Little Monster
by DoppleGanger3000
Summary: They said she was monster, they said she was a demon, they said she was a titan. But whose fault was that? Who had injected her with titan blood? Who had starved her? Who had driven her to the point of killing for a meal? They had. (Also a bit of ErenxOC, Levi and Erwin x OC father daughter relationship) ENJOY
1. Discovery

The room was dark, like always; the cold stone floor and walls were damp and smelt of filth. A tiny figure sat curled on the ground, none moving, as if they were dead. But the child wasn't dead; no, not yet, merely on the brink of death. Rats scuttled around and over her body, nibbling at her toes. She didn't move them away though, she was too exhausted and her restraints prevented any sort of movement. Strong, thick leaver straps were wrapped around her lower arms and a chain linked them to the straps around the child's calves. All these chains met to join a chain the same width as the child's body, this was imbedded deep in the wall behind her. A metal grate covered her mouth, cutting into her lips. It had been two years, though the child didn't know it, since the men in white coats had taken her. She had been four then, now she was six.  
Suddenly, bangs and cries where heard above and the girl's half closed eyes snapped open. Running footsteps and yells filled her ears and she shrunk further into the corner; what will they do to her this time?

Two floors above it was complete havoc. The main doors had been blown off their hinges from explosives and green cloaked men and women had swarmed the building. The men in white coats had scattered, desperate to escape the cloaked figures. When the smoke had cleared the battle was still raging; the white clad men were being tackled to the ground, doors being thrown open revealing tests subjects, all of which were dead and blades flashed as a titan was revealed.

"How the fuck did they get a titan into Wall Rose?"

Muttered a small figure removing his hood, this revealed chiselled features, raven black hair, and disgusted expression.

"Indeed, I'm sure we can ask the 'doctors' once we've cleared the building"

A much taller man commented, also removing his hood to show smooth blond hair, set jaw and large eyebrows. The shorter nodded and the two headed for the iron door leading straight down to the cellar.

The familiar clanking of the iron door reached the child's ears; fear began to coarse through her blood and she shook uncontrollably with fear. But the next sound was different, usually the steps were slow and precise, but this time they were hurried and messy. Her over sensitive nose could smell, two people, one of soap, the other of sweat.

The men stopped at the only door on the corridor, it was made of iron just like the last, but it looked a whole lot heavier and there was no window to look through. The shorter reached for the handle but the taller stopped him.

"Be careful Levi, we don't know what's inside this door, it may be more than we can handle."

Levi made a clicking sound with his tongue, slightly irritated,

"Yeah or it could just be another dead body, think of all the options Erwin."

Erwin sighed releasing his hand from the shorter man's shoulder,

"I was"

he muttered as the door ground open.  
At first neither of them could see anything, just a small prison. But then Levi's sharp eyes noticed a figure in the corner. She was small, her body restrained by leather, her mouth covered by a metal grate; she had matted brown hair, and her hazel eyes were as wide as saucers, staring with wavering fear at him.

"Erwin, look"

Levi whispered pointing his sword at the child, who let out a strangled grunt of fear,

"in the corner, it's disgusting."

It? Did the short man mean her? Was she disgusting?

"Levi, don't insult her, who knows what this poor things been through."

The man with big eyebrows hissed stepping forwards slowly, his eyes looking gently at her. He may seem nice, but that's what the men in white coats had seemed, all nice and smiles.

"I wasn't insulting her"

the shorter man snapped.

"It's okay, we're here to help, I promise"

he said gently, taking out a small, sharp, knife. The girl let out a constricted cry trying to get away but the man's hand took a firm hold of her arm and cut through the leather straps around her limbs. As the sweaty straps were removed she went limp, falling into the man's big arms. He smelt like sweat, mixed in with ink and paper, it was nice.

"Her body temperature is surprisingly high, and she's as light as anything"

Erwin gasped picking up the small body, holding her close, and wrapping the edge of his cloak around her.

"These people are fucking disgusting, anyway let's head back up, at least we found one survivor."

The three of them ran back up to the iron door, past the steaming corpse of the titan, past the wards and down a corridor to reveal…a dead end?

"Damn this place is like a maze, I swear we only took one left to get out of here"

Levi hissed looking backwards from where they just come, and then back again at the windowless wall.

"Stop muttering Levi, she losing consciousness, we have to get her out of here."

Erwin ordered turning back down the way they had come, his eyes scanning the area.

"NO, TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY PATIENT!"

A man's voice cried; the girl suddenly tensed up, now wide awake, gripping Erwin's arms so hard it ripped through the fabric and cut the skin. Turning they saw a man, covered in dirt and blood, his face was almost impossible to see, but his glasses still flashed in the torch light. Levi drew his swords glaring at the man,

"Now why would we do that?"

His voice was overly calm, he's mad, Erwin thought, he is so mad.

"She's a monster, only I can control her, give her to me and release my team, then we shall leave you be-"

But his speech was cut short when Levi shoved him against the wall, blades to his neck,

"You're calling her a monster, you piece of shit, give me one good reason why I shouldn't just remove you head from your neck-"

"Levi that's enough, you"

Erwin turned to face the trembling man,

"show us the way out, but if you trick us I can assure you he will not regret decapitating you."

His voice was incredibly serious and steady, despite the girl's fingers digging deeper into his flesh.  
Trembling the man nodded and walked back to the dead end, but this time he pulled out a brick revealing a door hand, and pulled it open.

"Tch, clever little shits aren't you?"

Levi snarled, his blade pushing against the man's back as they got outside. Immediately the man was handcuffed and shoved towards the jail cart where the other men were being lined up.  
Levi turned to Erwin and saw the girls fingers,

"Hey, stop that"

he ordered and the girl jumped looking down at her hands. She let out a cry of shock and scrambled out of Erwin's arms onto the soft grass beneath. 

"S-s-s"

she stammered looking up at the big man in front of her,

"s-sorry"

Her voice was strangled and gruff, she hadn't properly spoken in 2 years, only screamed.  
Levi and Erwin looked at each other, if only they knew what they were getting themselves in for.

* * *

The journey back to the capitol wasn't that eventful, Erwin's arms had been bandaged and the child was put under Levi's temporary super vision. He honestly didn't look too pleased with this choice as he tensed up the moment the girl was placed on his saddle between his legs. He felt her high body temperature against his stomach and wondered how this child wasn't feverish; he also wondered when she had been given a wash.  
They arrived in Wall Sina around 7 in the morning, the trial date was set for the week after, and the scouting legion headed back to base.  
The news about the illegal experimentation had come to the high court through a whistle blower a week before. They said scientist had been kidnapping men women and children and running experiments on them, one of those was, apparently, being injected with titan blood.  
The Survey Corps had been chosen to find and capture them, and save any survivors; though there had been only one. 


	2. Strength

"I don't think the girl should attend," Levi murmured as Erwin examined the case papers for the second time, "she's been through enough as it is and this will only make it worse."  
Erwin smiled setting down the papers, "I've never thought you could be this caring Levi; but I'm afraid the child will have to, if she can speak then she can say what they did to her."  
Levi's eyebrow twitched and he opened his mouth to speak, but a cry interrupted their conversation.

(Few minutes before) They strapped her down, all of them grinning the same hungry eager grin. She tried to scream but the metal grate prevented any noise escaping. Then she saw the flash of glasses, a needle in her vison, then burning pain coursing through her veins. She began to toss and turn her arms and legs pulling at the straps restraining her. But all the men did was nod and write stuff down. 'Stop it' she wanted to scream, 'stop it stop it stop it' but no noise came from her mouth.  
Suddenly her eyes snapped open as she let out a cry. Her limbs were tangled up in big white pieces of fabric and she felt dampness in her lap. Hurriedly tried to escape from them, but instead fell of the side of the bed onto the floor.

Levi and Erwin pushed open the door to the room they'd left the child in, she was entangled in the bed sheets and judging by the damp patch on the bed, she'd wet herself.

"Wha-"

Levi started but Erwin was already there by the child's side.

"Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"

He said gently; at first the girl shrunk away, but when she realised it was the big eyebrow man she calmed down a little. Slowly she shook her head,

"….no"

she whispered. Erwin smiled and picked her up,

"Erwin, she's filthy, are you planning to wash her? Last time I checked you could barely get in the tub yourself."

Levi smirked coming forward next to the two on the ground,

"I was planning on you taking care of her, Levi, I didn't expect you'd like this child so quickly."

At this Levi's face tightened slightly,

"I don't care for her, she just stinks that's all."

Erwin chuckled and passed the girl over to Levi, but she didn't seem too keen on the idea,

"Come on Imelda, Levi's going to give you a bath and something to eat."

"Imelda?"

Levi questioned raising an eyebrow as he took the girl in his arms,

"I-Imelda?"

she copied also raising an eyebrow. Erwin nearly had to look away at the adorable couple but managed to straighten his face and say,

"Yes, Imelda, that's your name"

Imelda held onto Levi's jacket as he carried her down to his quarters; people stared at the small corporal, some whispering after he passed and others just gawking.

"Why?"

Imelda asked looking up the frowning man; he smelt very nice she'd decided, so despite his grumpy face she liked him.

"Because children aren't normally seen in a place like this"

Levi didn't say anything else as he knew full well that wasn't the real reason people were staring at him. He noticed the girl was sniffing around like a curious puppy, Not another Mike, Levi thought as they reached his room.

"Right, stay here and don't move, I'm going to run the bath."

He ordered and went into the other room.  
Imelda sat there for about three seconds before getting up and toddling around the room. It was fairly big room with two doors leading off into other rooms, a desk sat in the middle of the room with a sofa next to it. Slowly she went up to the desk and tried to climb up, but there wasn't much to grab so she gave up.

"Hmmm"

she mumbled then looked at the sofa "Aha" she smiled and waddled around to the left side of it, and pushed.

Levi heard scraping from his office, he ran from the bathroom to find Imelda sitting on his desk…with the sofa right up next to it. Did she move it? No she can't have, that sofa took 4 fully grow men to carry.

"Hey, what did I tell you about not moving?"

Levi asked trying to ignore the sofa. Automatically the child shrunk away, as if expecting to be hit at any moment. He sighed running a hand through his hair, why were children scared of him,

"It's alright, I won't hurt you, none of the people here will hit you; I promise….okay?"

Imelda looked at him with very searching eyes, and crawled up to his face cautiously, until her little nose was a millimetre from his, and sniffed him.  
"Okay" she concluded beaming and hugging his face. Urine and sweat filled Levi's nose and he had to use every bit of self-control he had not to throw the child off.  
"Alright"

Levi mubbled against the girls tummy making her giggle,

"let go so I can give you bath."

Stripping off the white shirt they'd put her in the night before, Levi picked her up and gently placed her in the tub of soapy water. Imelda squealed with joy at the bubbles and began splashing around happily. Levi let her play for a few minutes, his stomach tightening at her cuteness. He was amazed at the girls trust in him and how there were no scars on her skinny frame.

"Alright Imelda, enough playing, sit still so I can wash your hair"

Levi ordered but the little girl shook her head,

"No"

she giggled and ducked under the water in an attempted to escape him. Levi cringed as the water was tinged with brown. Throwing restrain to the wind he grabbed her from under the water and forced her into a sitting position.

"No"

she screamed thrashing causing the water to splash onto Levi. But that did affect him as much as the next thing; she grabbed his hands and pushed them off with such force Levi was thrown backwards. He skidded and when he stopped his eyes were wide and staring at the the little girl in the bath. She seemed just as surprised as she stared at her hands then back at Levi; and that's when the tears began to fall.

Erwin was walking past Levi's office when he heard the sobbing. Calmly he opened the door and headed for the bathroom; there he found Levi cradling the sobbing Imelda in a fluffy towel.

"What happened?"

He sighed leaning against the door and as Levi turned he expected a glare but not this time, no; there was nerves and surprise in his eyes.

"She's strong Erwin, super strong, just now she pushed me clean off my feet; but she doesn't seem to realise her own strength, that's why she's crying."

Imelda's big brown eyes met Erwin's as she croaked,

"S-sorry L-L-Levi"

**AUTHOR: Hey guys sorry for the first few of you who read this, I accidentally put my harry potter fanfiction instead of my AOT one haha hope youre enjoying it btw **


	3. Sleepy

The following days leading up to the trial were tiring, not just for Levi and Erwin but for the rest of the squad. Imelda had been nervous and timid to touch anything after the bathroom incident and need a lot of persuasion to allow them to pick her up, as her legs could only carry her for a few minutes at a time. She had nearly killed Hanji when she'd met her; this was because she wore glasses and smelt of chemicals…just like the scientists.

"Well, I must say she did surprise me when she tried to stab me with a piece of book shelf."

Hanji laughed as they sat at their table, Imelda on Erwin's lap, here orbs never leaving Hanji, her little body tense with suspicion.

"You did run at her screaming about experiments shitty glasses, of course she'd try to defend herself, though,"

He said turning to the girl, who looked back at him,

"trying to kill one of your carers comrades is wrong."

Imelda looked down, ashamed; she didn't know the crazy lady was Levi and Erwin's comrades.  
Erwin decided to change to subject,

"The trial is tomorrow, we'll be leaving at precisely 07 hundred hours; you'll be coming with us Imelda."

He finished looking down at her smiling slightly.  
Imelda's speech had slowly come back as she listened to the others conversations but sadly she had learnt most of her words from Levi.

"Why? What's happening then?" she asked looking around,

"There's going to be a trial for the bad people who hurt you"

Petra explained, she had arrived at the survey corps a few weeks before Imelda, and she liked the small child a lot, despite her super strength and violent mood swings.

"Oh…do I have to? Will the shit heads try to hurt me again?"

She asked fiddling with the hem of her little dress they'd made for her out of one Erwin's old shirts. Petra gasped and Olu bit his tongue; Levi hid a small smile behind his cup and Hanji let out a cackle of mad laughter.

"Don't swear Imelda, its rude"

Erwin reprimanded but then softened his tone as he added,

"and no, those men won't ever hurt you again, they're going to be locked up."

Nodding the little girl rubbed her eyes sleepily. The sight was too cute to behold even for Levi, who had never been a big fan of small brats, though this one was an acceptation.

"Right time to get you to bed, Levi, will you take her? I need to discuss a few things with Hanji."

Erwin asked standing up with the girl in his arms.

"Tch, fine whatever"

Levi mumbled and took Imelda so that she was resting on his hip,

"I'll be in my office Erwin if you need anything."

And with that he walked out the door. The journey back up to his office, Imelda had taking lodgings there, was a silent one, with only Levi's footsteps and Imelda's gentle breathing to break it. Entering his office, he headed for his room and placed the snoozing girl on her small bed at the foot of his own. The child's face was a little grubby from supper making Levi's OCD kick in as he pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the crumbs of her pink cheeks.

"Levi"

she murmured rubbing her eyes sleepily,

"Yes?"

Levi replied in an unnaturally gentle way,

"You're really tall."

She whispered before going back to sleep, her small hands enclosing over the handkerchief in an iron grip. Levi's heart gave a twang of appreciation for the sleeping brat as his mouth twitched upwards; this little thing was growing on him.


	4. Trial

"NO"

two voices rang through the building at 5am in the morning; Imelda had had another nightmare so had been crying in her sleep, which in tow had given Levi a poor nights rest; and now they were up at the crack of dawn, with the problem of getting Imelda into a dress.

"No, you _will_ wear it"

Levi growled as Petra, who had very kindly, and much to Levi's gratitude, tried to catch the small half naked girl.

"No I won't, won't won't won't!"

Imelda pouted when Petra finally got her cornered.

"Yes you will now shut up and let Petra put in on you little brat."

At the word brat Imelda's eyes began to swell with tears; he had never called her a brat before, and that's what the men had called her. She sat down and began to cry into her knees; Petra, being the motherly thing she was, scooped her up and hugged the small child.

"Ssshh it's alright sweetie, Levi didn't mean it, but you're not being very helpful are you?"

She cooed rubbing her back as she sat on the bed where the dress was. It was a beautifully simple thing; the colour was a light blue which complimented her brown hair very nicely, a small white sash finished off the outfit and when they wriggled her into it she looked very sweet.

"Now don't even think about ripping it br-kid"

Levi hurriedly corrected himself as he, Petra and Imelda walked down the corridor. The little girl quickly let go of her dress, she still didn't realise her own strength.  
They reached the carriage outside where Erwin and Mike where waiting. Imelda grinned at both of them and ran over ignoring Levi's command to slow down.

"Well don't you look pretty"

Erwin smiled picking her up,

"Erwin"

she giggled and hugged around his neck, she always found his smell very comforting.

"Don't I get a hug?"

Mike asked and Imelda nodded wriggling over to him and giving him a hug and a sniff.

"You two are too similar"

Levi grumbled as her arrived at the carriage looking up at the two of them,

"are we going or not?"

he asked gesturing to the door. Erwin's smile disappeared and he nodded,

"Yes, Olu is in charge until we get back"

he announced and stepped inside the carriage.  
Mike went in after with Imelda who wrinkled her nose when they went in; it smelt stuffy and nasty.

"Yucky" she commented covering her nose, Mike nodded in agreement.  
The journey wasn't too bad, bar the fact Imelda got motion sickness and threw up; though, thankfully out the window.

They made it into Wall Sina with about 30 minutes to spare. Levi took Imelda from the moment they left the carriage holding her firmly by the hand.

"Try not to panic okay?"

He whispered as he felt her small hand tighten around his own and she began to chew the side of her index finger. Levi nudged Erwin saying,

"Why does she have to speak, she's just a child, and with her rapid mood swings I can't see how this will be good for her."

He respected Erwin's plans and would always follow him, but sometimes he questioned them.

"I know your concern but if we're going to get these people permanently in prison or execution, Zakary needs all the proof he can get."

Erwin replied as they entered the court room; most were there and seats had been taken. The room went into hushed whispers as they stared at Imelda, whose grip on Levi's hand tightened painfully; Levi shot a glare across at the Merchants and Religious idiots who stared at the girl as if she was a titan.

"She's the only survivor?"  
"How could she be? She's a child?"  
"A child, the only thing you can call her is a monster"  
"What did they put her through do you think?"  
"Well she's with Captain Levi so she must be dangerous."

All these voices were whirling around Imelda's head, that's what they thought of her? That she was a monster, that she was dangerous? Erwin saw the child had heard and gently ruffled her hair in a comforting way. A few minutes later silence was called for as Zackery entered; he saw Erwin and then Imelda. She seems to be unharmed, he thought, but no one can judge a book by its cover.  
When he sat down he gestured to the guards,

"Bring in the accused"

They saluted and opened the doors. Three men were dragged in and set on their knees in the court room; Imelda, whose hands were on the wooden divider, gripped it so tightly it splintered. The three men all were wearing the cloths they had been captured in; the left man looked solemn, as if accepting his fate, the one on the right looked utterly terrified, sweat poured down his face, with eyes wide with fear. But the middle one, to Levi's disgust, smiled pleasantly at Zackery.  
"Franz Jochum, Michel Blanch and Wilbert Darcy; you, from interrogation are the three ringleaders of the foul experimentations that have been taking place for,"

he paused to look at his papers,

"Two years, do you deny or accept this?"

The man on the left slowly nodded, the man on the right said nothing but began to whimper, but the middle man spoke,

"I deny these claims"

his voice was smooth and calm, but that made it all the more worse for Imelda, who began to shake uncontrollably with fear, clutching at Erwin's leg for dear life.

"So you're saying that you did not organised the kidnappings and experiments?"

Zackery asked raising an eyebrow; Blanch nodded, his face unchanging,

"I merely gave these two men beside me the idea"

Levi knew the man was lying through his teeth, he'd been the one who had lead him and Erwin out of the building, he'd experimented on the girl, he knew it. He looked down at the child who was on the verge of tears, and Erwin wasn't looking to comfortable either; but who would be comfortable to have a terrified child who didn't her own strength attached to your leg? Slowly he crouched down and touched Imelda's shoulder whispering,

"Let go, you might hurt him"

Imelda slowly let go of Erwin's leg and climbed into Levi's arms and hid her face in his chest, inhaling his sent deeply in an attempt to calm down.

"Erwin Smith, may we have your report from the night you captured the scientist."

Zackery ordered as Erwin straightened up and began to retell the happenings of the week before. All through the report Levi's eyes were on the three men; the left one, he assumed he was Jochum, gritted his teeth, the man on the right, Darcy was letting out random whimpers with every sentence. But Blanch, Blanch was simply there listening as if he was the judge and not a accused in chains. What is he playing at, Levi thought, he can't have a way out of this.

"…and that's where we found the girl, she was bound up like an animal and when we approached she tried to escape. She is fearful of any one she meets, and from the reactions we are observing now"

He gestured to Levi and the Imelda who still refused to look up,

"These men are the cause of that. I'm sure with further interrogation we can discover their motives and methods."

Erwin finished, Zackary nodded and then turned to Levi expectantly,

"Is she able to speak?"

He asked and Levi nodded,

"She is but thanks to these shit heads reactions to her I doubt you'll get much out of her,"

Zackary nodded but still insisted. Levi kept in his sigh of frustration, something bad was going to happen…he knew it. He prized the girls arms off his neck and set her down and a stool so she could see over the divider,

"Go on"

He whispered as Imelda looked around at all the faces, now all concentrated on her. Then she looked at the three men, the middle man was still wearing glasses and he held a smile on his lips.

"ARE YOU INSANE"

A voice cried and everyone looked at the man on the left,

"YOUR GOING TO TAKE A BRATS WORD FOR THIS! SHE'S A MOSTER AND YET YOU LET HER WONDER FREELY IN SOCIETY, SHE NEEDS TO BE CONTAINED, OR BETTER YET DESTROYED"

He babbled on like this until guards gagged him into silence. Imelda was shaking, tears ran down her face and her hands were clenched around her dress. She looked up at the man on the podium and he gave her a nod as if to start. Trembling she opened her mouth,

"T-t-they t-took me"

She stammered,

"F-fr-from my home, a-and t-t-the-then strap-strapped me t-to a bed"

All through this her pupils were getting smaller and smaller and her body was getting more and more ridged.

"T-then a n –needle…it hurt, i-it hurt, l-like I was o-on fire."

She stopped stammering now, her eyes wide with fear,

"Needles, sharp things, titans, They showed me titans they cut off my arms and legs, stabbed me, MADE ME FIGHT AGAINST PEOPLE, TOLD ME TO KILL, GAVE ME MORE INGECTIONS SAID I WOULD DIE TOLD ME TO KILL KILL KIIIILLLLLL"

She screamed and soon her words were nothing more than cries and sobs. She pulled at her hair and clothes as if the memory was all over her. Everyone stared in horror as her voice echoed through the room; Levi was the one to snap out of the horror and grabbed Imelda around the middle and began to hall her out of the court room. She screamed and kicked and started pulling at Levi's clothes and hair. Levi gritted his teeth as he felt his hair being wrenched out of his scalp. When he got out of the room he threw the child onto the floor. There she lay still screaming and crying but didn't move as much.  
"Imelda" he said loudly as if to a puppy,

"Imelda stop now, it's over, the men won't hurt you anymore, I promised you that the day we met remember, so stop this now."

"W-w-where's papa Levi, I-I-I w-ant papa Levi"

Imelda gasped into the floor as her sobs slowly began to quieten; Levi's whole body froze at the two words, she saw him as her papa? In some ways he was horrified, in other ways he wanted to rush to the child's side and comfort her; like he guessed, papa's did?  
Gently he crouched down beside her and picked her up again, immediately Imelda's were around his neck, inhaling his soapy sent.

"It's alright, papa Levi is here"

He said stroking her hair. But then the girl looked up and her eyes began to water again,

"I w-want daddy Erwin too, I want h-him too"

Oh dear god Levi thought, she's already that attached after one week? Well this isn't awkward at all, his mind helpfully said. Right then the doors opened revealing the three men; Levi glared at them and placed his hand over Imelda's head gently rubbing it with his thumb as she began to tremble again. The last to leave was Erwin and Levi poked Imelda and she let out a gasp of happiness and, holding onto Levi's cravat she reached out and held onto his hand.

"Daddy Erwin"

She smiled wriggling in Levi's arm to get a hug from him. Levi saw Erwin's eyes flash with surprise, but as usual he covered it with ease as he hugged gently.

"Hello Imelda, don't worry the men are going to prison, you're safe now, we promise."

Levi nodded at Erwins words and both headed back towards the entrance where Mike had been waiting with the carriage. They explained what had happened, and purposefully left the papa and daddy out of it.  
Imelda fell asleep on the way back in Levi's lap, she was curled up like a cat; and for once her little brow wasn't furrowed while she slept. Her future was looking bright; or at least, Levi and Erwin thought, as bright as it could be with her condition.


	5. Realisation

Over the next three years Imelda grew…well in mind that is; thanks to her years captive she only grew to be a head shorter than Levi. She was taught by members of the survey corps, this included Hanji, Levi and Erwin. It was clear that she was a fast learner and only had to be shown how to do things once before she got the hang of it. Imelda became very keen on building and engineering; tinkering with anything from a door lock to a rifle. She also learned to live with her strength it came in very useful when large amounts of equipment and supplies needed to be transported. Of course though it wasn't all plain sailing; Imelda was completely oblivious to the death toll the corps suffered after every mission outside the wall. And when she saw how few there were and how over half were injured, it took Levi and Erwin a long night to calm her down. As well as this harsh realisation she also kept having nightmares and rapid mood swings; though for her age it wouldn't be seen as uncommon.  
Imelda's relationship with Levi and Erwin was very close though only when the three were completely alone did the adults show any sign of fatherly affection. She had also grown to trust Hanji and had accepted, despite Levi's firm disagreement, to have a small experiment session….it could only end badly.  
Hanji took blood samples to start with, but she couldn't examine them as they disappearated after a few seconds; that wasn't too bad, but Imelda trembled threw the whole process. Levi, who was on guard, warned Hanji; but of course she didn't listen.

"Oh stop worrying Levi it's perfectly fine, now Imelda, could you please drink this, it shouldn't harm you if my calculations are correct."

Hanji beamed handing the 9 year old a small test tube filled with a green liquid. Imelda had could smell it before Hanji had produced it; it smelt like rotten vegetables. She grimaced and took the tube before chugging it back in one. The foul taste was enough to make her gag as she stumbled backwards to the floor, her hand knocking over a glass jar that had been placed there and smashing around her, cutting a long slash down her arm….and that's when it happened.  
Suddenly Imelda's pupils dilated to the size of pin pricks, her whole body shook as she let out a strangled growl, her teeth bared.

"Hanji"

Levi warned stepping closer, but Hanji didn't move, her eyes full of excitement as Imelda took the shard of glass and got onto her feet, her knees bent like a cat about to pounce.

"HANJI MOVE"

Levi bellowed shoving her to the ground as Imelda dived passed, letting out a strangled screech. She crashed into the table opposite, but that didn't faze her in the slightest as she got up and charged at them again, her voice coming out in a strangled yell. Levi was in front of Hanji and he automatically swung his leg at the child, catching her face and sent her skidding across the floor. His stomach gave a pang as to who he had just hit, but this wasn't the Imelda they knew, no, this was a monster who had been hiding away inside her this whole time. Just like the first fall this one didn't faze her either, her hands gripping the glass shard so tightly it cut into her skin. Her jaw was bruised and blood was leaking from her mouth, but it evaporated once it hit the ground. It seemed Imelda had realised charging would do nothing for her, so instead she grabbed the chair beside her and lobbed at them her voice finally shaping understandable words,

"I'LL KILL THEM, I'LL KILL THE ONE WHO CHANGED ME"

Realisation hit Levi hard as he ducked under the flying chair; of course, she can smell all the chemicals and Hanji is wearing glasses; she must think we're her enemy, he thought. Well for now they were and before they could calm her down, she had to be restrained. The noise of the chair landing had brought people to check out the scene and Levi took this in her stride.

"She's lost control, help me restrain her now; don't let her push you off."

And he, four other men dived on the nine year old; restraining her arms and legs and she flailed about trying to push them off. She was strong for her age no denying it; but luckly her strength didn't match the five men pinning her down.

"LET GO, I WON'T GO BACK THERE I WON'T"

Imelda screamed desperately, her pupils widening and fear overtaking the rage that once possessed those hazel orbs. Levi stared at her now desperate face, but knew if they let her go she could still cause damage to herself and others; so he produced the metal shackles and snapped them over the child's wrists. As if this was a trigger Imelda began to scream as if they burned her skin and she moved even more causing the men to grip her body even tighter. Hanji was also yelling, telling them to let go, but Levi didn't listen; with a nod to the others they picked her up and taking her out of the lab, Hanji following with a note book, still screaming about letting her go. Levi knew the only place which could restrain her was the cellar; but he knew she hated it and it could easily make things worse; but he had to protect the rest of the squad. He looked at Imelda and saw her pupils had gone dilated again to pin pricks and she was trying to bite and scratch their arms. Reaching the cellar they got Petra to open the door; Levi ignored the look of fear on her face. Keeping the door open the quickly went down the stairs and put/threw her in before running out and slamming the door; it was lucky they did as about a second after they shut the door Imelda crashed into it. Levi thanked the others for helping and dismissed them; Hanji he had to force away as she was still waving her note book in his face.

"Piss off shitty glasses, I told you this was a bad idea"

Levi snarled as he kicked Hanji away down the corridor then came back to the door. He could hear Imelda trying to get out and taking out her frustration on the things around her. It'll probably be a long time before she calmed down, Levi thought as he wiped the floor with his handkerchief before making himself comfortable on the stone floor.  
After an hour of growling, scratching and snarling, it finally stopped. Levi stood up; his behind had gone numb from sitting down for so long and he considered opening the door. But before he had even started he heard whimpering and then crying…and then a terrified voice

"P-p-papa? D-d-d-addy? Wh-where are you? PLEASE DON'T BE MAD, I DIDN'T MEAN IT PAPA, DADDY!"

She wailed and Levi opened the door and slowly walked down the stairs. The shackles where no longer connected and the boxes and even parts of the wall where either badly damaged or broken. Imelda was sat in the middle of room looking utterly terrified.

"P-p-p-papa"

She stammered crawling backwards slightly; her eyes never leaving his face, which was full of shock. How had this never happened before? Levi thought as he stared at the child; she had fallen over and cut herself before, but all by accident. No the glass was an accident as well and how come it hadn't healed instantly like the other cuts.

"Levi"

He spun round to the sound of Erwin's voice, to the see the said man who had just appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked serious and his expression didn't change even when he looked at Imelda,

"Hanji just told me everything….did she do all this?"

He asked gesturing around and Levi shrugged,

"Yeah it seems; she's back to normal now but Erwin, the cut…it hasn't-"

"Healed I know; Hanji also told me that as well"

All through this conversation Imelda had been staring at them tears falling down her face; what were they going to do to her? Would they kill her? Would they chain her up and leave her to die? She begged to whatever God there was up there that it wouldn't happen. Suddenly a hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her thought and she smacked away as an automatic reaction. She let out a cry of surprise as she realised it was Erwin.

"Imelda"

He said firmly

"Did you know you could do what you did an hour ago?"

He asked and the child shook her head, curling up into a small ball, as if trying to disappear

"No, I never knew, please don't kill me, please I didn't mean it"

Erwin and Levi looked at each other, just as they thought they'd cleared one problem, they now had a whole new one to figure out.

"We would never kill you Imelda"

Levi sighed

"But we're going to have to be more careful so stuff like this doesn't happen again."

Levi prayed to god that it would never happen again, but sadly that wouldn't be the case; he knew it wouldn't be the case.


	6. Disaster

The year was 845, when the news of Shinganshina's fall and Wall Maria's breach reached the ears of the Survey Corps. The reaction was one that would be remembered for years after; some people began to panic, others started screaming and some simply stood in horror as Erwin repeated the report to them. Even Levi felt nerves and worry at this news; how had they never noticed a 60 metre class titan before, and how many men and women would it take to kill it?

"How are we going to tell her, Erwin?"

Levi asked once they were alone in his office, they had decided to inform Imelda of the situation together. At this moment she was in her room tinkering with a miniature catapult she'd created,

"We'll tell her simply, no point in sugar coating it"

Erwin sighed getting up from his desk. Together they headed to her room, it was still early in the evening but nobody was around; why would there be? Half of the corps was from Shinganshina. They reached Imelda's door and knocked,

"Yes"

Imelda's voice was uncharacteristically flat; Levi noted as he open the door. Imelda was sat on the ground, the little catapult she had been making was smashed and bent, as if she'd crushed it herself. Her eyes were blotchy and red and her face was turned down into a sad angry frown.

"Imelda-"

Erwin started but she interrupted him snapping,

"I know, I know the wall was broken."

Her flat voice cracked at the broken as fresh tears fell from her eyes and she ran to both of the and hugged the two men around the middle,

"Please don't go, please *sob* it's more dangerous now with the massive titan please don't go"

She cried; Erwin and Levi looked at each other before bending down and hugging their little girl. Levi honestly felt awkward as he felt Erwin's strong arm wrap around him as well as the child. A light blush came to his cheeks as his mind reminded him that he hadn't felt awkward the night before with Erwin.

"I'm sorry Imelda, but we have too if we don't humanity will most definitely fall, please understand"

Levi gladly stepped out of his memory of the previous night and nodded, but he saw Erwin's lips twitch up as his cheeks slowly went back to their natural colour; prick, he thought.

"Then I want to fight too"

Imelda stated, pushing away from the two men and standing up. Oh dear, Erwin thought, he had been wondering when this was going to come up, and how Levi would react. Levi had become very protective over the child from the moment she called him papa; Erwin wasn't sure whether he was just doing his duty as her papa or if he really cared for Imelda as if she was his daughter, either way he knew his answer before the shorter man opened his mouth.

"No"

His answer was firm and final but of course, Imelda had to be one of those headstrong children who wouldn't take no for an answer.

"But I'm strong, I could help rebuild the wall, I could protect you like you've protected me for four years. I want to kill the titans; I WANT TO FIGHT FOR HUMANITY"

She shouted and she performed a perfect salute looking at Levi right in the eye. Levi stared back at her with amazement; she was that determined? He closed his eyes allowing this situation to sink in.

"I can see how you could help us Imelda, but you're still too young and you have no training as of yet, and you can't join the army until your 12."

Erwin explained and Levi glared at him,

"Don't encourage her Erwin, what about her power huh? If she cuts herself they'll have no clue on what to do with her."

Erwin nodded but said nothing; to be honest they had larger problems to worry about than Imelda enrolling into the army. He voiced this and Levi nodded getting up from the floor; they would deal with the problem at hand first before anything else. They hugged Imelda good night and left her in her room alone.  
As soon as the door was shut she ran to her bed and pulled out a box from underneath it. Inside were two books; one was about titans and the present day. But the other, the other was an old book, from the old world about weaponry, battles and war. She pulled both out and sat on her bed flicking through their pages with care.

"Titans weak points where is it? Aha"

She whispered to herself tapping the page with her finger; a drawing of the said beast was on the page, its back to her showing the nape of the neck. A slice to the neck, that's how you killed it, she thought and then looked through the index of the forbidden book. She had been given this book by Dot Pixis, head of the Garrison regiment, when he had come round one evening. He had definitely been a weird man and he smelt strongly of alcohol; but she liked him. Running her finger down the index she found what she was looking for; Bombs. Flipping to the page number she began to read through the chapter; her child like mind missing out the hard words but still making sense of it.

"Could a bomb to the neck kill a titan just as easily as swords would?"

She mumbled scratching her head in deep thought; she'd have to ask Hanji about it next time she saw her. Slipping the books back under the bed she crawled under the blankets; she would fight with them, she would kill the titans, then everyone would be safe, no one would live in fear again.

The next morning the whole of the corps left for their first mission, this mission was to find any possible survivors who hadn't heard news of the destruction of the wall, and to see the damage of it. Imelda didn't go down, she knew she'd start to cry and that would show weakness; or at least that what she thought. Looking from her window she saw them getting on their horses and they trooped off in silence; how many would die this time? How many would not come home? How many more had to die before humanity was free?

**AUTHOR: Hey guys thanks for reading XD just to say I won't update until next tuesday as I'll be away for a while with no WiFi (I don't know if I'll live) Once again thank you for reading,TTFN**


	7. Invention

The last two years had been hard for the Corps and well as everyone else. Food was low as was funding, meaning the corps could only get what the vitally needed; so Imelda and Hanji's equipment was put at the bottom of the priority list. This made both very irritated, but both had their own ways of showing this. Hanji, being the vibrant flam she was went straight to Erwin to complain; but Imelda….she started to, borrow things. Soon people were saying a thief was stalking the area, stealing gun powder and clay, both vital materials and thanks to the wall being breached, now in very low supply. Levi had a nasty hunch that he knew this mysterious thief and headed straight to Imelda's workshop. There he found the culprit sitting in the middle of the floor, placing a wick in a small clay ball, and then lighting it

"Imelda"

He said sternly and she let out a squeak of surprise as the clay ball slipped from her fingers. Her eyes filled with horror as she scrambled to her feet and propelled herself at Levi crying.

"GET DOWN"

Her arms went around his waist as he fell backwards and before they even hit the ground there was a bang like that of a rifle. The smell of gunpowder filled Levi nose as Imelda pushed up to see just who she'd knocked over.

"Ah errrr papa ehe, didn't realise it was you eheh, umm you doing okay?"

"What"

He said flatly looking up at his adopted daughter

"Was that, Imelda?"

Her face twitched up into a nervous smile before sitting up and scratching her head in the way she did when she knew she had been caught red handed. But then she stopped as if she remembered something and she span around to see what the item had done. Scorch marks covered the floor as did the shrapnel from the bomb.

"THE BOMB WORKED"

She cried happily before a sharp slap to the back of her head brought her down to earth,

"You stupid child, you could have killed yourself"

Levi snapped angrily, glaring at her. Imelda looked down at her feet, ashamed and rubbed her head again. Levi stood up rubbing his back looking down at the small child.

"What the fuck were you doing with a bomb?"

He asked, poking her back with his boot. Imelda got up and walked over the too the desk on which piles of paper were stacked and more of the round clay balls were placed.

"I was making bombs to see if the explosion would be big enough to kill a titan,"

Levi stiffened,

"Cannon fire can kill them as long as it hits the neck, and since these are designed to explode on impact and to be used for long rang, these bombs could possibly help soldiers see the next sunrise."

She finished, rolling up the papers and clipping the bag of gun powder shut. Levi had been staring at the clay balls for quite some time; could these really make a difference? Then he remembered why he came to find his retched child in the first place; for stealing clay and gun powder .

"Where did you get all these materials from Imelda?"

Levi asked taking the bag of gun powder from her as she tried to move it behind her back. Her face went a flushed red and her ears literally started steaming; another sign of her hiding something.

"I errr well you see-"

"You were stealing"

Levi deadpanned, but Imelda obviously wasn't going to admit to it straight away, she would, as Levi had predicted, try get out of her very sticky situation.

"But stealing is such a strong word and its not like they were using it, that clay was the rough stuff you make with pots; everyone had pots do why need the clay?"

Imelda looked at her papa's face; it hadn't moved, and sighed dramatically in defeat. Another sharp slap behind the ear and then the banging of her door told her that Levi was gone. Rubbing her now rather bruised head, she sat down and scribbled the explosion in her note book mumbling,

"Needs more powder, thinner wick and thinner shell"

Before snatching up one of the bombs to go and show Hanji.


	8. Introduction

So today was the day; Imelda was going to join the army and train with as a recruit. And she was utterly terrified. Sure they'd explained to the trainers about her passed and condition, but that wasn't the thing that worried her the most, no; it was the first time she would meet and work with people her own age. All her life she'd lived with people over twice her age, and now she would meet people her age for the very first time.

"But what if they don't like me?"

She asked as she put the last of her clothes and necessities into her small rucksack. Erwin sat on the end of her bed leafing through her note book she'd given him.

"Well if they don't just let them be, no point in picking a fight them; especially since you'll hit them to the other end of Wall Rose."

He smiled trying the calm her nerves. Imelda laughed slightly clipped her rucksack shut, confirming that her packing was done. Just then Levi entered, carrying a brown jacket with the wings of freedom imprinted on the back.

"Since you're only going to be there for a year there was no point in wasting the materials;"

He explained,

"so we agreed that you should wear one of my old ones. It should fi-"

He was abruptly stopped by Imelda throwing herself at him in a crushing hug. Levi stiffed, he never like hugs, and he saw he could feel his skin bruising from her tight embrace. Erwin laughed at the sight and Levi gave him a strained desperate glare as if to say, get her off me before she kills me.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you"

Imelda cried into his chest, soap and cleaning products filling her nose. Erwin's gentle hand on her shoulder made her loosen her grip on the small captain; who staggered a bit, and turn to Erwin to give him the same treatment.

"Okay Imelda"

Erwin managed to choke

"That's enough please, we need to go through the procedures with you."

Sighing Imelda let go and flopped down onto the bed holding the jacket close to her body like it was a blanket. It had been decided that the girl would be put in a separate dorm to the other recruits situated in the just off the training ground. Imelda would be allowed to be with the others until curfew. If she cut herself badly she was to inform the nearest soldier on duty and/or to head straight for her cabin. All through Erwin's plans Imelda was nodding, mentally making notes.

"You can tell the other recruits about your life but you don't have too okay?"

Levi added leaning against the door. Again Imelda nodded standing up and scratching her head.

"Also, you can't just be called Imelda, so we've decided you should have my surname; you are now called Imelda Smith."

Erwin smiled as the girl smiled nodding vigorously.

* * *

NEXT MORNING

The sun shone down harshly in the training ground as all the new recruits, including Imelda, stood in lines. Imelda's nerves seem to have disappeared over night and she stood to attention, her face an unreadable expression. Shardis, the head of the training corps was yelling at the recruits. He had just given a guy what for, because he had saluted with the wrong arms; Imelda had had to make sure not to smack her head in disappear. She noticed a lot of people had been staring at her, probably because she was wearing Levi's jacket;

"Tear it and you're dead"

He had said before she left, that nearly made her smile at the memory.

"AND WHO MIGHT YOU BE SHRIMP?"

Shardis' voice rang through her ears as she was shook from her recollection and looked up at him before saluting and shouting,"

"Imelda Smith, from the Survey Corps, Sir"

Whispers rang out all around them as everyone now had their full attention on the small girl who wore the Survey Corps jacket.

"AND ARE READY TO GO THROUGH HELL?"

At that Imelda gave her best 'Levi' smirk showing the right side of her teeth,

"I already have sir; if you can recreate it I'd be impressed"

Shardis eyed the girl carefully; she seems to have a tongue despite what Erwin said, this should be an interesting year.


	9. Settling

"No way, you actually saw the colossal titan?"

A boy gasped as Imelda entered the mess hall; nobody noticed her entry as half were crowded around a table where three people sat. Two were boys and the other was a girl. Not wanting to attract attention to herself she made her way to the other side of the room, where nobody sat. Trying the food made Imelda feel homesick, it wasn't as nice as the Corps but it was still a reminder of her home. She played with a litter before pushing it away,

"You know you shouldn't push away perfectly good food"

A deep voice said and Imelda looked up to see a tall blonde boy and an even taller black haired one. She said nothing as they sat down, they both smelled like her. She found this disconcerting and was about to leave before the blond one spoke again.

"Hey you're the one who was wearing the Survey Corps jacket. I'm Reiner Braun, and this is Bertold Fubar."

Well Imelda was stuck now, she didn't want to talk to them but didn't want to make the wrong impression, and so sighing she said,

"I'm Imelda Smith"

She said flatly holding out her hand. This didn't faze them but what it did do was get her more attention…from everyone else. In a sudden swoop everyone was around her asking her questions.

"Hey why do you have a Survey Corps jacket"  
"You said you're name was Smith right, like Commander Erwin Smith?"  
"Is it true you were experimented on as a kid?"  
"What's the Survey Corps like, is Captain Levi as short as everyone says he is?"

Imelda was begging to panic as the room got louder and louder. Suddenly the door to the mess hall was slammed open making every looked around to see Shardis. The silence after that was deadly, Shardis stepped in and barked,

"Smith" Imelda stood up,

"Yes Sir"

"Come with me, now" He snapped.

Nodding she pushed past the others and followed his retreating figure; she felt all their eyes on her. Silently she followed Shardis to the far end of the training ground, a small cabin stood there; two guards stood there, both carrying rifles. They saluted as Shardis appeared and gave Imelda sceptical looks.

"These are your sleeping quarters, and your holding place if you turn into your monster," Imelda stiffened, "I don't know what Erwin and Levi see in you, but I swear, if you harm another recruit or give us any kind of threat, then you will be contained, and killed. Do I make myself clear?"

Imelda hurriedly nodded, giving a shaky salute. Shardis didn't salute back; he simply nodded and then turned away walking back to the other cabins.

"What are you waiting for brat? Get in, its curfew."

One of the soldiers sneered and she ran into her room; it was very simple, only a bed, side table with draws and a wash bowl.

"Where are my chains?"

She mumbled to herself jokily before sitting on her bed; Monster huh? Her mind muttered, well ain't this a warm welcome. She lay back onto her bed yawning, this was going to be a long year.

**NEXT MORNING**

The sun rose above the trees behind the training camp and Imelda's eyes drifted open. She was used to getting up at the crack of dawn, but knew she had a few more hours before roll call. But her child like excitement got the better of her and she jumped out of bed and started putting on her uniform. True to her promise she had kept Levi's jacket very safe, slipping it over the foot of her bed to decrease the risk of it getting ripped. Picking it up she admired the wings of freedom before putting it on over her dark green collared shirt. Now…what could she do to keep herself entertained? The guards had left their posts, to sleep probably, and the door was locked, not that she couldn't break it with a simple flick of her fingers, but it wouldn't do much for her image.  
A few hours later Shardis banged on the door and almost automatically it was opened. He wasn't that surprised, but the girls eyes were bright with excitement and life, unlike the other useless kids he's just yelled at. He marched her to the mess hall again before leaving her be to eat the rather unpleasant porridge in peace. Everyone else came in drips and drabs, clearly not used to the early morning rises. She saw the same two boys from before come in, but this time a blonde girl with a hooked nose was with them. They headed for her table and sat down.

"Hey" yawned Reiner, "sorry about last night, we didn't get you in trouble did we?"

He asked and Imelda shook her head, "No its fine," She saw the girl looking at her, "what's your name?"

The girl looked away at that before muttering, "Annie"

"Right, so why are you wearing a Survey Corps Jacket? Are you like a spy or something, 'cause if you are you're not very good."

Reiner chuckled at his poor joke and Imelda shook her head, allowing a small smile,

"Nah, I'm just staying for a year to get the basic training then I'll be back in the Survey Corps-"

"Did you say Survey Corps?"

A voice interrupted and she turned to see the boy from the night before, who had seen the colossal titan. His eyes were an amazing turquois green and his skin was a light shade of caramel. Ignoring his good looks she glared at him before muttering,

"Yes I did, and I'd prefer it if you didn't interrupt me."

People made noises and comments like, 'ooo a feisty one' and 'you got owned Jeager'. Smirking Imelda patted the seat next to her, her domineer changing in a flash,

"If you want though you can listen; anyway this jacket is Captain Levi's old one, there was no point in wasting materials so he gave it to me."

All four pairs of eyes on the table stared at her, even Annie's eyes widened slightly. The brown haired boy was just about to speak when the bell went for roll call. Automatically Imelda shot up and walked through the doors and into the yard. 3DM Gear, here we come.


	10. Friends

Six harnesses stood in front of the new recruits; these were going to help them balance when using 3DM Gear. Shardis was picking some poor soul to go first, he chose Imelda shouting,

"Let's just see how well the Survey Corps has raised you Smith"

Imelda wrinkled her nose at his horrible breath before saluting and stepping up to the harness. The other soldiers strapped her in before lifting her off the ground. Automatically she found her balance point and she hovered there, arms folded and a bored expression on her face. She desperately wanted to comment on how pointless this was but she needed to keep in Shardis' good books. The other soldiers stared at her, amazement on their face. Eventually they lowered her down and everyone else started to get on. The turquoise eyed boy, who had apparently been talking big the night before, fell the moment his feet were off the ground. Imelda smirked; he was hanging upside down looking utterly horrified. A black haired girl wearing a scarf was just as good as her.

"There's my competition" She muttered.

Later that day Imelda was swinging on the harness bored out of her mind; then she saw the turquoise boy storm over with his two friends running after him. They set him up and lifted him off the ground. A few seconds later, his head had made contact with the ground.

"Ouch" Imelda muttered as they dragged him off the the infirmary.

That evening everyone was utterly exhausted, bar Imelda; her titan blood had kept her energetic throughout the whole day and she was still buzzing. The turquois eyed boy had been woken up and he was now sitting with his two friends and a few others; might as well go join them, she thought. Taking her plate of food she went over and sat opposite the boy.

"Hey, nasty fall you had just there, Imelda Smith by the way."

She said smoothly holding out her hand. His eyes widened as he took her hand,

"Eren Jaeger" he said, dumbfounded.

Imelda found out his friends names were Armin, the blonde boy, and Mikasa, Imelda's main competition. Eren looked nervous and grabbed her hand again looking at her desperately saying,

"Please Imelda you have to help me; I need to get into the Survey Corps and I have to use 3DM Gear, how do you do it?"

Imelda looked at him slightly unnerved before smirking and then giggling, and then full on laughing. Eren looked at her in surprise and Mikasa glowered at her.

"Haha oh wow, I didn't know just because I was raised by the Survey Corps I became the expert of 3DM Gear use haha; sorry" she controlled herself before carrying on, "anyway, I don't know how I did it, you just need to find your balance, be tense and relaxed at the same time, you know that kinda stuff."

Eren nodded, but as he moved his head Imelda's sharp eyes saw steam emitting from his head. Her eyes widened as she shook her head and opened them again; the steam was gone.

"Hey err are you okay?"

Armin asked and Imelda nodded smiling not bothering with an excuse. Shardis entered the mess hall at that moment and Imelda sighed getting up; bed time.

"See you tomorrow Eren, don't lose hope yet." She smiled as she walked out of the mess hall.

The door clicked shut and Imelda groaned loudly before flopping onto her bed; bored bored bored. Seriously was she so incapable of remembering to bring stuff? She could have brought a book or something. As she was mulling over her personal stupidity she heard a soft tap on the window. Opening her eyes she saw three figures; Reiner, Berthold and Annie. Sitting up she opened the window hissing,

"What are you doing here? You'll get caught, and Shardis will kill me."

Imelda panicked looking behind her as if he would crash through the door at any moment. Reiner grinned looking at my dorm.

"So this is where you disappear off to huh, how come you get all the privacy?" he joked before climbing in without invitation.

Annie and Berthold followed after and Imelda stared at them, slightly amazed and still terrified. Her eyes kept on flicking to the door and back at every creak and whisper the others made.

"So why are you in here?"

Reiner whispered making himself comfortable on the floor looking up at Imelda. Imelda wasn't sure whether she should tell them or not; but they seemed alright, despite all three of them smelling like her.

"Well…I'm in here because I turn into a blood thirsty monster whenever I cut myself. I don't recognise friend from foe so I'm deadly to society, that's why I'm contained here…"

She trailed off looking at her hands before twitching at a shy smile at the trio in front of her. They all looked interested as Reiner spoke up,

"I thought so, you're that girl who was the only survivor in the experiments weren't you?"

Automatically Imelda's eyes were fully open and she clutched her arms in a self-hug. This would happen whenever someone sparked her childhood memories of the trauma. She shut her mouth but it didn't stop the whimpers as her shoulders began to shake.

"You idiot" A voice muttered, "You're so insensitive."

And she felt an arm pat her shoulder awkwardly. Looking up Imelda saw Annie, her face in its usual emotionless state but her gesture was enough. Taking in a breath Imelda sighed rubbing her arms

"Sorry, I still get twitchy about that about that" She said rubbing her neck, "and what do you mean by you thought so?"

At this Reiner looked uncomfortable but he brushed it off saying,

"I remember hearing about it, people said Erwin Smith took in the only survivor and your surname is Smith so I just put two and two together really."

Imelda raised an eyebrow but took it for now, it could be the truth but his tense answer wasn't convincing. Suddenly voices could be heard from outside the building, coming closer and closer to the door.

"Shoot" Imelda hissed as she peeked through the curtain, "Its Shardis, guys you've got to go"

But the three were already way ahead of her; Berthold and Reiner were already through the opposite window. Annie had just stepped through it before looking back and giving Imelda the smallest of smiles. She smiled back before scuttling under the covers. Just as she shut her eyes the door was clicked open; Shardis looked in, his eagle like eyes scanning the room before looking at the sleeping figure on the bed. He didn't trust this child, he hadn't seen her at her worst but she was a threat. Erwin had been persuasive with her enrolling, saying she will become the key to humanities freedom. As he shut the door he let out a snort; a demon child that didn't differentiate friend from foe, was the key to humanities freedom? Well the man had dragged out humanities strongest from the underground, but that was just coincidence. This girl would be trouble, he could feel it.


	11. Fear

Over the next few months days had made some good friends, and not a single accident with her titan problem. Her best friend was Annie, though she didn't talk much, she could be a good laugh and didn't seem to be fazed by her condition. She'd also become friends with Eren and Armin, both great guys but seriously Eren calm down okay? He didn't shut up about eradicating the titans, and he couldn't even use 3DM Gear properly. Armin was brilliant to talk to about the outside world; he had been scared at first when Imelda mentioned it to him but he opened up and discussed many wonders the old world had. Mikasa on the other hand, well she was an odd one; outside of training they would converse in polite conversation, inside training they were competing to be the best.

It was another bright day today and the new troops were learning hand to hand combat. Imelda knew this would be useful, you don't just have to fight titans in this world, the people in the walls can be just as dangerous. She'd shown off her strength by easily taking down half the boys in the group and now Imelda was put in front of Mikasa, who had also showed many skills in the exercise. Though, her attitude did irritate the brown haired girl.

"You know Mikasa" she sighed after she'd brought her to the ground for the second time, "acting so nonchalant about all this isn't going to get you anywhere."

At this her opponent eyes flashed and kicked Imelda's feet from under her. She landed on the ground and Mikasa twisted her arms behind her back the wooden knife pressing into her back. Imelda smirked looking behind her,

"N-Now that's more like it" she hissed before wrapping her legs around the girl's waist and forcing her to roll forward so Mikasa's face hit the ground. Scrambling out of her iron grip Imelda crouched on the ground like a cat ready to pounce.

"Let's see what the rumoured number one can do" she smirked.

Mikasa merely nodded before beginning to circle the brown haired girl. Imelda's eyes followed her around, refusing to move from her cat like position. Suddenly Mikasa swiped with her leg just missing Imelda's head. She grabbed the leg and span it away from her before leaping onto Mikasa's back, her arm firmly around the black haired girls throat. Mikasa staggered at the sudden weight but managed to hold her balance despite the tightening on her neck and waist; she's so upfront, doesn't she know that this decreases her chances? Mikasa thought as she rammed her elbow into Imelda's waist. Others had stopped to watch and they began cheering on both girls. Imelda grunted her grip loosening and Mikasa took her chance. Grabbing her arm the black haired girl threw her opponent over into the dust. But to her surprise Imelda didn't seemed fazed.  
Imelda smirked rolling over and jumping up, now fully upright before swing her arm at Mikasa's head. Reiner and a few others began cheering and whooping for her as Mikasa went into defensive mode. Right, left, right, left; Imelda's mind was racing as she threw punch after punch, some missing, others finding their mark. Mikasa really could hold her own huh? Her strength was almost 50% higher than the average male soldier and Mikasa could practically block every one of her punches. Mikasa's head was also spinning as she got another blow, but she herself could take a punch as well as give it. Suddenly Imelda swiped violently from above and Mikasa held up her right arm to parry the attack, but she held the wooden knife in that hand…and it cut into Imelda's arm. Imelda's eyes widened as Mikasa brought her leg up and rammed her knee into the girls' stomach sending her to the floor. But this time Imelda didn't get up, her face was a picture of horror as she stared down at the cut; as it began to hiss and steam.

"Oh no" she whispered, fear and panic running through her as she staggered to her feet; clutching the wound to her body. Everyone was staring at her as the instructors came running over; several chains in their arms. At the sight of the chains Imelda's whole body began to shake with fear; the cut wasn't big enough to make her go into a frenzy but they didn't know that, for they knew a simple pin prick could change her. Before Imelda could run they had grabbed her, tying her hands behind her and pulling her away from the others. From the moment the chains went around her wrist, Imelda began to scream.

"NO" she cried struggling against their arms, "PLEASE DON'T LOCK ME UP, ITS NOT BAD PLEASE, I WON'T HURT ANYONE PLEASE"

But her cries fell on deaf ears as other instructors began to yell at the other soldiers to report to their bunks. She struggled against the chains, hearing them clink as some of the weaker links snapped, but her captures as it were held fast refusing to let go. Imelda saw Mikasa, Eren and Armin watching her as she was marched away, tears of fear falling down her face. When they reached the cabin, they threw her in, her wrists still bound. She looked up at them pleadingly but all she saw in their eyes were fear and disgust. They shut the door locking it, and her sharp ears heard their conversation,

"She's a god damn animal, did you feel how strong she was?"  
"Yeah it was like a titan's"  
"She didn't even tell us she was cut? She was probably planning to kill that soldier she was training with."  
"A monster like that doesn't deserve to live."

Monster…Animal…that's what they thought of her, and now that's what everyone thought of her. Imelda's eyes swelled with fresh tears as she lay there on the ground.

"Daddy" she sniffed "Papa…"

She missed them both so much, they wouldn't have treated her like this; they would have known what to do. But she wasn't with them anymore. She was fare away from them, alone in a room, tied up by metal chains.

A few hours later Shardis came in looking angry, but he did undo her chains which had been chafing.

"You attacked a soldier out of line-"

"No" Imelda interrupted, fear still present in her voice, "I didn't, it was only when she blocked me with the knife that I started to bleed; but it wasn't-"

"Does it look like I care Smith?" Shardis snapped, "You could have killed one of the best soldiers I've had in years you idiot; you're just lucky it wasn't serious enough to shoot you."

Imelda flinched at his harshness, fighting back the urge to break down into tears again. Had her Papa and Daddy really said that they could shoot her if she got out of hand? Is that what they'd said? Shardis didn't seem to notice the childs dilemma or at least didn't care as her gave Imelda one last disgusted look before slamming the door and locking it shut. Imelda could have easily used her strength to get out but she was too worked up in her thoughts to even consider it. Was this their plan? Was this their way to get rid of her, had they never loved her? Was this jacket Levi gave her just a brand so people knew she was different? Slipping it off Imelda held it close to her and breathed in the still lingering clean sent of her Papa. But she didn't feel much comfort this time.


	12. Understanding

The next day Imelda wasn't allowed out of her cabin, or the day after that, they didn't even leave her any food to eat or water to drink. She had woken up expecting the clicking of the lock and the door opening…but nobody appeared. She could hear the guards outside shuffling about as she sat on her bed, her mind as messy as her hair. Everything was gone; every friendship she built up and every alliance of trust she'd given had gone in under 3 minutes. Is this what it was like, to be treated as a monster up in the world? She knew the life of being kept in a cell but there had been no need for her to worry about the terrified, disgusted, judging eyes of others. But her world she'd created with her Scout family had been destroyed, of course nobody would like her, of course they'd all be scared…why should she have thought any differently.

"Of course…" she whispered through dry lips, "I'm nothing but a monster."

It was well past curfew before Shardis entered her room again. He held a bread role in his hand and a cup of water in the other. Imelda's stomach grumbled as she fought the desire to lick her lips. Shardis looked at her nastily before dropping the food onto the floor. Before Imelda could stop herself she pounced on it, ripping into the stale bread role and glugging down the remains of the water that hadn't splashed on the floor.

"And you call yourself a human," Shardis sneered, "but here you are, on the ground like an animal fighting to survive."

He bent down and grabbed Imelda by the hair making her yelp in pain as he forced her to look into his eyes.

"One more wrong move and you'll be dead…got it?" He hissed as the child nodded. He smirked before dropping her and leaving the room again. Imelda looked up from the floor, hatred burning in her brown eyes. She could rip that man apart- no…she would rip him apart, that son of a bitch knew nothing-. Imelda's eyes widened; why was she thinking about killing him? Yes she hated his guts but why was she imagining his death? She firmly shook her head, coming to her senses; if she killed them Papa and Daddy would never forgive her…but they said Shardis could kill her if she did anything wrong. She was so confused…nothing made sense anymore.

The next day Imelda was marched to the mess hall after everyone else had gone, was made to eat before being taken out to train with the others. The weather was grey and cold; perfect for a training run through the forest. Imelda was placed at the back of the group where Shardis and a few other instructors would be so they could an eye on her. All the other soldiers looked at her with distrust or fear…she ignored them all as they set off. A few hours into the exercise and the heavens had opened up; freezing cold rain poured down onto the soldier's bodies, Mother Nature could be so cruel. Because Imelda had super strength the pack on her back made no difference to the run; she was panting but wasn't at her limit. When you've had Levi as a mentor in training exercises since the age of six you can practically go on forever. Just behind Imelda was Armin, his whole body was shaking and his breath was ragged. Shardis was riding next to him shouting harsh motivation at him but it made no difference. Imelda could see he was about to collapse from exhaustion and the group was getting further and further away. The instructors rode on ahead, as if forgetting about the two stragglers. Time to re-build a few friendships, Imelda thought as she slowed down to Armin's pace, which was now almost a walking pace. When the blonde boy realised that Imelda was next to him her practically squeaked in fear at the sight of her.

"Y-you" he panted "don't... have to … to walk with….me"

But the girl didn't listen as she pulled him up onto her back and began to run after the group which now was only a tiny shadow in the rain. Armin flushed with embarrassment as he put his arms around Imelda's neck.

"I'm not going to carry you forever Armin" Imelda stated, "but I won't leave a friend behind."

If Imelda knew a person who would understand, it would Armin. She felt his arm squeeze around her shoulders as an expression of thanks. As the group came into view Armin got off Imelda's back and they ran together, their mud splattered faces filled with determination. Shardis felt almost irritated when he saw the two 12 year olds running past him to the others. He hadn't expected them to catch up so fast or at least for the Artlet boy to catch up so fast.

When they reached the camp again everyone was utterly exhausted and didn't even bother to look scathingly at Imelda as she entered the mess hall with them. Taking her food she sat down at a lone table in the corner of the room; to her surprise several people came to sit with her. Reiner, Berthold and Annie.

"Wow, you put on quite a show three days go, that was impressive." Reiner commented when Imelda gave none of them a greeting.

"Yeah I guess…why are you sitting with me? I'm a monster that shouldn't be approached by anyone."

Imelda said playing with her stew, Annie groaned and grabbed Imelda's hand forcing her to look at her. They stared for a few moments before Annie spoke,

"We all have monsters inside us Imelda; yours just has an unfortunate way of showing its self-"

"But it didn't show its self, that cut" she showed her arm, which had several scars all about 10 cm long, "That cut was less than 10 cm, that's why it healed leaving no scar; but of course they hadn't bothered to read the information pack from Hange so…"

She trailed off looking back down at the table again,

"So they restrained and locked you up for three days."

Reiner finished, Imelda nodded before her nose caught the scent of Shardis and she grimaced, speak of the devil. But that wasn't bothering everyone else; no they were all paying attention to Eren and Jean, a horse faced boy with sandy hair and an undercut. They'd been yelling at each other for a considerable amount of time, though Imelda had chosen to ignore this; and they were now holding onto each other's shirts. Well this should be interesting, she thought as she turned to look like the others. But Eren didn't seem to want to carry the argument on any further and before she knew it Jean was on the floor, his face a perfect image of shock. And then she saw Shardis' eyes pepeping through the door,

"And what" he asked, "is all the noise about?"

The room was deathly silent as everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to say; until Mikasa put her hand up saying,

"Sasha just let a massive one rip, sir."

The look of utter horror on the girls face was hilarious as Shardis gave a disgusted grunt,

"I see, for goodness sake control yourself."

And then he left, Imelda had thought he was coming to get her; guess not. But to be honest she didn't care as she was the first to crack up and most of the others went after her. She really felt for the potato girl but that was quite funny. Getting up Imelda stretched yawning loudly and rubbing her head, she might just go to her cabin without escort tonight.


	13. Catastrophe

**Sorry about the wait, I didn't have time to write with school and all :).**

After the unfortunate accident four days previously, Imelda had a hard time regaining everyone's trust; Armin was willing to be friends again, which brought Mikasa, though she was the one apologising for putting her through it.

"Mikasa, it's not your fault, you were in self-defence; it was just chance my arm caught on the blade."

Imelda reassured and Mikasa nodded; but Eren seemed touchier on the subject. He didn't look at her as he mumbled accusingly,

"So…whenever you cut yourself you become a titan?"

Imelda felt hurt at his comment and she scolded him,

"No, Jaeger, I don't turn into a titan, I merely become a monster that has super strength; though, I do already have that" she laughed slightly, but Eren didn't seem to find it funny as he turned his body away from her, arms folded. Confusion was written on Imelda's face as she looked at Armin who looked down sadly,

"I don't have a right to tell you; it's Eren's choice, not mine-"

"My mum got eaten by a titan" Eren snapped glancing back, "I saw her get eaten right in front of my eyes. I'm gonna kill every last one of them."

Imelda didn't really know how to compute this; naturally she felt sorry for Eren and all but, he wasn't the only one who'd lost friends and loved ones. She'd lost countless friends thanks to the titans anyhow. Her papa and daddy had seen plenty of men and women die horrible deaths,

"I'm sorry about that, but count yourself lucky, at least you aren't part titan." Imelda replied as kindly as she could, she wasn't very good with touchy situations. It didn't seem to offend Eren though it didn't brighten his mood either. Armin could sence Eren was about to say something, so he blurted out,

"We're going to start using 3DM Gear tomorrow aren't we?" Everyone in the group looked at him and Imelda smiled, she'd been waiting to use 3DM Gear ever since she watched the Corps train with them. They stopped talking just as two girls came over to the table; one was tall, dark haired and tanned, the other was short, blonde haired and big eyes.

"So you're the one who tried to kill all of us yesterday?" the taller on smirked as she sat down next to Mikasa, opposite Imelda. She frowned at her comment, but she smelt…like her, just like Reiner, Berthold and Annie, what was up with this?

"Hey, day dreamer, I'm talking to you." A pair of fingers clicked in her face and she automatically tried to bite them. Luckily she missed, but the action was enough to get a bad reaction.

"SHIT YOU JUST TRIED TO BITE MY FINGERS OFF-" she screamed as the blonde girl covered her mouth, everyone still looked around and Imelda covered her own mouth, standing up.

"I-I" she mumbled under her hand, "…bad habit." Before running out of the mess hall, muttering Levi's personal selection of swear words. She got back to her room and closed the door with a sigh smacking her hand against her forehead repeatedly.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot, ouch….maybe I should stop doing that."

She mumbled rubbing her head; she'd always had a habit of snapping when something was right in front of her face. She sat down yawning loudly closing her eyes, she'd been feeling really sleepy recently, maybe it was because the days were getting shorter, or perhaps the training was finally getting to her, she didn't know. Lying down she let out a sigh, 3DM Gear tomorrow, this will be fun.

"This is not going to plaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaan"

Imelda screamed as she span in the air again, just missing a tree; that morning had been fairly smooth, the two girls she met before, Ymir and Christa, had forgiven her for nearly bighting Ymir's fingers off. But this, this was another matter entirely; she may have been fine on the harnesses, none moving, but this was utterly terrifying. She'd never liked heights really and the moment she was off the ground she'd been barely keeping her eyes open.

"SMITH STOP MUCKING ABOUT"

The instructor yelled from bellow as Imelda failed to release of of the wires causing her to fall dangerously low to the ground. She felt the grass brush her cheek as she stopped on a branch to catch her breath and try to stop her head spinning. She was utterly hopeless at this, and everyone else found this utterly hilarious. Jean, Connie and Sasha were the main ones guffawing at her failed attempts and she was getting mad at them.

"Hahaha oh wow she badder than me ahah" Sasha cackled as she swept passed slicing through a neck of the wooden titan. Imelda's blood boiled, not just at the insult but also the bad grammar,

"SHUT UP POTATO GIRL; BADDER IS NOT EVEN A WORD" she yelled before jumping off the branch and shooting out her wires flying clumsily above the brown haired girl and swinging her foot into Sasha's back, causing her to spin like a child's toy. Sadly her revenge was short lived as a wooded titan flew in front of her face. Before she could scream she'd crashed into it causing the head to come off and for her to fall to the floor. She hit the ground dead on, and the wooden head fell onto of her. Pain ran through her body as she let out a scream of pain; her whole body was covered with the head and all she could see was the now bloody grass. Eren was close by and he sawed down to her landing clumsily by the head,

"Imelda, hang on I'll get you out" he yelled pushing the head up and off her body. She smiled up at him and she tasted the metallic taste of blood, spitting she attempted to sit up. But her arm was twisted badly so she fell back down. By now some instructors on horses had arrived and were pushing Eren back. They lifted Imelda up and examined her body; the only blood was from her mouth and nose, so they were too nervous about this. They got her on a horse and took her back to the camp, leaving the others to carry on training, some of them sniggering.

According to the nurse she'd broken her arm and may have concussion but should be alright. Imelda did feel dizzy as she staggered to the mess hall to wait for the others to come back.

"Why the hell am I so bad at it?" She muttered kicking the bench out causing it to smack into the wall, "Papa and Daddy will be so disappointed, no they'll be ashamed."

She moaned in disappear holding her still spinning head, today sucked, and it was about to get worse. About an hour later everyone else arrived and she pointedly ignored the group before as Eren came to sit next to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked kindly and she shook her head mumbling,

"No, Levi is going to be so disappointed in me how can be of any help if I can't even use my 3D Gear correctly."

Eren awkwardly patted her shoulder and she smiled at him sadly. A snort came from the next table and the sandy haired prick called over,

"Sucking up to the kid of Commander Smith, Jaeger? Trying to get a place with those freaks?"

Eren shot up standing in front of Imelda as he and Jean began to have another shouting match. Imelda was about to get up and leave but her ears caught people on the table behind her whispering,

"How is she still here? Surely trying to kill Mikasa was enough to kick her out?"  
"And she can't even use 3DM Gear"  
"She should still be in chains"  
"The Survey Corps are mad for taking her in"

Imelda was frozen in her standing position, her hands clamped onto the table. That's what they thought huh? Well how would they like to be tortured and put in chains for the first few years of their lives? She'd show them, she'd show them not to speak shit about her. Armin was sitting opposite her and placed his hand over hers hissing,

"Don't Imelda, I know what you're going to do and don't."

Now Imelda would have done exactly what Armin had said, but the last two comments threw her off the edge.

"I bet you it was all that weirdo Commander Smith's idea"  
"Yeah, he was the one who brought that freak Levi out of the underground"

With a speed that no one saw coming Imelda swung her fist into the back of the first soldiers head. He was sent flying across the hall, smacking into the left wall with a nasty crack. The room went deadly silent as everyone in the room stared at her. The silence was broken when a small red haired girl stood up, pointing at Imelda and screaming,

"See! I told you, I told you she was a monster!"

The words hit Imelda hard and she glared at the girl who seemed to have regretted her decision on speaking.

"Shut up" Imelda growled, "SHUT UP" And she lunged forwards tackling the girl to the ground. People began to yell and scream as Imelda pummelled the red heads face. Arms wrapped around Imelda's waist as one of the bigger soliders picked her up. Screeching like an animal, she kicked them hard in the stomach before elbowing their face.

Eren and the others stared in horror as Imelda fought the older soldiers. What was she doing? She could kill them, she could be killed herself, why was she doing this? Armin looked to the door and saw Shardis, a rifle in his hand. He gasped and grabbed Mikasa's arm making her look at the door; her eyes widened as he aimed it at Imelda's head.

"IMELDA, LOOK OUT"

Armin cried as Shardis pulled the trigger.


	14. Saved

Pain shot through Imelda's left shoulder, as the bang from the rifle rang through her ears. She automatically stopped struggling, her eyes wide with horror as she stared at the blood pouring from the wound. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came from her throat. Taking their chance the soldiers pinned her to the ground; she tried to struggle but there were just too many for her to fight off. She wanted to scream, wanted to cry, wanted to plead for forgiveness, but she'd gone too far this time, she knew it. The familiar nose of chains came to her ears and she looked up to see Shardis standing over her, a foul smirk on his face.

"Finally," he grinned, "you've stepped over the line."

As all this was going on Armin had snuck out of the mess hall and ran to his dorm. Once there he grabbed a piece of parchment and a pencil.

"I have to warn the Survey corps" he muttered scribbling down the occurrence of that evening and sealing it in a letter.

"NO"

A scream ran through him as he left his dorm. Imelda was kicking and screaming as the soldiers dragged her to her cabin. She managed to kick them off and sprint for the gate but another bang and she was down, blood coming out from her leg.

"PLEASE NO, I HAVE A REASON, IT'S NOT MY FAULT PLEASE" she begged but these were ignored as the soldiers picked her up again, this time lifting her fully off the ground.

Armin began to run again to the messenger office, keeping close to the other buildings as not to be spotted.

"I know the messenger's leave in an hour, so they should get this by early morning."

Armin muttered, silently praying that they'd get there in time, as Imelda had little left.

Sharids flung open the cabin door and the other soldiers threw Imelda inside, her head smacking on the edge of her bed. She was pulled by her hair to the corner of the room, where metal pole now stood and her chains were wrapped and tied around it. Imelda's mind was so full of panic she couldn't put words together anymore to plead for mercy; but she found her voice when a metal grate appeared in front of her face.

"NO," She screamed turning head away from the mouth guard as it came closer, "NO PLEASE NOT THAT, ANYTHING BUT THAT PLEASE NO-HMFF"

The grate partly silenced her as she desperately tried to shake it off her face. But Shardis had had enough of her screams, pointing his gun up to the ceiling he fired it again; this cause Imelda to freeze, her eyes snapping upwards.

"Shut up brat, you've gone too far this time; I plan to fulfil my promise in killing you, but since I am a merciful man," 'Yeah right' Imelda thought' "I'll give you till sunrise, so everyone will see how we dispose of monsters here."

And with that he left her, alone in the darkness. The realisation of her situation smacked Imelda hard in the face; she was going to die, she was going to die and nobody would know it. Her Papa and Daddy would be none the wiser; she'd never see them again. Tears began to fall down her face again as she tried desperately to free herself from her bonds. But it was useless, the chains held fast and her wrists were now raw from rubbing against the metal. She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do.

* * *

Levi sat at his desk early the next morning in an utterly foul mood, winter was drawing in and the days were shorter and shorter; this meant less time to clean, and meant most of his squad slacked off. Just as he was about to go talk to Erwin about the problem the door was flung open with Erwin standing in the doorway. Levi could tell something was wrong by the look on his face.

"It's Imelda" he panted, "we have to get to the training corps, NOW"

Levi didn't need telling twice, before the blonde man had even moved Levi was running down the corridor towards the stables. Hange had just finished setting up the carriage as Levi shoved her aside and climbed onto the driver's seat. Turning he saw Erwin right behind him, getting on the passenger seat. Levi whipped the horse and they sped off into the still dark morning.

"So" Levi asked, concern in his tone, "what's happened?"

"According to the letter Imelda attacked two of her comrades; the other soldiers restrained her but then Shardis shot her-"

"WHAT" Levi yelled, practically losing his composure as they skidded round a corner. Erwin ignored his counterpart and continued,

"He shot her in the shoulder and then took her to the cabin, bound in chains; she's going to face a firing squad at sunrise."

There was no denying the look Erwin saw on Levi's face; it wasn't of fear, no, this man didn't have that emotion, but it was anger, pure anger as the black haired man lashed at the horse again, causing them to ride even faster. He was furious, and to be honest so was he, he had had an agreement with Shardis that if something went wrong he would contact the Survey Corps. This wasn't part of the agreement.

"We should get there in time" Levi's voice snarled into Erwin's mind, "We have two hours until sunrise; this journey will take us less than that."

Erwin nodded they rode on in silence.

* * *

Imelda was woken by a loud bang and she snapped into a sitting position, fear written all over her face. Shardis and two other guards stood in the door way. With a nod the guards went over and undid the chains, but retightening them once Imelda was to her feet. Both her bullet wounds had healed over night, but she could still feel the bullets deep in her flesh. They then dragged her to a wooden post just off the training ground. Every single soldier at the camp was there, all staring at her. She wanted to make them look away but her metal grate prevent anything. She made eye contact with Eren, Armin and Mikasa; all looked terrified, she saw Mikasa's hand was wrapped around Eren's arm.

"This" Shardis called to the crowd, as Imelda was bound to the post, "is what happens when we try to accept abnormals into our ranks. We are lucky the two who were hurt yesterday by this monster, are alive and now you will all see the punishment for insubordination."

And with that he turned towards Imelda, a triumphant smirk on his face. She glared back, but she couldn't hold it for long as a blindfold was pulled over her eyes. Her ears picked up the clicking of the rifles being prepared and she felt her legs begin to wobble; she didn't want to die, it wasn't her fault, they should be attached to this pole not her. How can she control it? She's had zero practice at coping with the verbal and physical abuse she'd been receiving as Levi and Erwin had protected her from.

"READY" Imelda's body froze, "AIM" her heart stopped, "FI-"

"STOP" a familiar voice bellowed and everyone turned. Erwin Smith and Levi Ackerman stood there, both looking wind swept, but both holding their composure. All the subordinates stared in awe as the two men walked quickly and calmly towards the line of soldiers and Shardis.

"I believe there has been an occurrence, Shardis?"

Erwin asked in a scarily calm tone as the soldiers lowered their weapons,

"I don't think this was the procedure I requested if Imelda lost control. Levi if you would."

Silently the short captain nodded and walked past a now spluttering Shardis, rage covering his face. He wanted to kick the man so hard in the face not even his god forsaken mother would recognise him, but he had to keep his cool and though he hated to admit it; he was disappointed in Imelda. Not even half a year had gone by and this happened? Why couldn't she control her rage, was she so depended on Erwin and himself, that at the drop of a hat she'd burst into a flaming rage? Shaking his head he untied his child and she fell to the floor. He gently slipped off the blind fold and the poor girls eyes blinked her tears away as the sun rose above the trees. Levi wanted nothing more than to hug her on the spot, but this was neither the time nor the place. Removing the grate from her lips her placed an arm around her shoulder and began to limp with her back to the carriage.

"Are you insane?" Shardis hissed at Erwin, "That thing is a monster; she has no right to live-"

"She will be a valuable weapon against the titans, she will cooperate given the right environment and people. You could have killed humanities last chance of survival here today, and I would give every bit of my blame to you."

And with that he turned, green cloak flying as he followed the hobbling duo to the carriage.


	15. Relief

Levi helped Imelda into the carriage but didn't make eye contact with her, he couldn't; how could she have done this? Didn't she know the consequences of doing something like that? He shut the door and climbed up onto the driver's seat, Erwin followed behind him.

"You seem concerned Levi" Erwin stated, "you don't need to keep the act up, she's safe."

Damn Erwin and his observant eyes, Levi cursed as he cracked the rains causing the exhausted horse to move at a slow trot, back down the dirt track.

"I know, but" he lowered his voice, "why did she cause such a scene? What made her do it?"

Erwin nodded looking up at the brightening sky, he wondered that too, but he doubted Imelda did it for the fun of it.

"I guess she'll give us an explanation once we get back; I must admit I regret this decision completely, I thought they would be skilled enough to handle this."

Levi clicked his tongue angrily, like they would know anything. According to his document brief, Shardis had been in the Garrison before becoming a trainer, he had worked on Wall Rose; yeah really skilled, his mind spat.

"The letter we received wasn't very descriptive, all it said was that Imelda had gotten into a fight and was in serious danger."

Erwin continued and Levi's brow softened a bit; Thank fuck for the person who wrote that letter, if they hadn't…well Levi didn't like to imagine what could have happened.

Inside the carriage Imelda was silently crying, her cut lips, now steaming, were glued firmly together, relief and fear swam around her mind. She couldn't believe it, she was safe, and her Daddy and Papa had saved her life again. But, the look Levi had given her before he'd untied her had been full of anger and disappointment; and her gut told her that that hadn't been an act. Why had he looked at her in that way? Why were they both in the driver seats and not with her? She tried to move her legs onto the seat, but the bullet which was still under her skin even after the wound had healed burned harshly and hastily it was brought back to the floor.

"…Why did she have to cause such a scene…?"

Levi's voice came through the wood and fabric of the carriage and Imelda sat up straining her ears; what did he mean by scene?

"….she'll give us an explanation….I regret this decision…"

An explanation, why would they need one? They couldn't possibly think she'd done it on purpose; and what did he regret? What decision…it wasn't keeping her in the Scouting Legion was it? They weren't going to get rid of her were they?

"No" she hissed glaring at her bare feet, "no don't be ridicules, they said I was important to them and no one would take me away from them."

Nodding to herself Imelda leaned back again, wiping her eyes with her dirty hands, the blood of that girl was still on her knuckles and she grimaced; she really had done it, hadn't she? Groaning loudly she placed her face in her hands, why couldn't she control it? Probably because the environment she'd grown up in hadn't showed her the world of fear and judgment.

Finally the carriage ended its journey and Levi hopped down from the driver's seat, his lower half completely numb. Hanji and Petra were waiting for them; the small red head's eyes were brimming with tears.

"Is she alright?" Hanji asked seriously and Levi grunted as Erwin appeared with her in his arms; her wounds had healed but Hanji could tell that not everything was alright.

"She's okay Hanji, I just need to talk with her for a moment, could you get her something to calm her down?"

Erwin asked as he went past them; something in his voice told Hanji that she should wait longer than a moment before getting what they needed.

* * *

In silence Erwin, Imelda and Levi went through the headquarters; nobody past them in the hallways, the noise from the mess hall explained that. Imelda wanted to look at her family but she was too nervous to, Erwin's arms were tense and Levi was glaring into nothing. Finally they reached their destination; Erwin's office and Levi opened the door. Imelda was set down on the leather sofa and she felt cold as both their eyes set on her.

"Well then?" Levi asked tersely, "are you going to explain?"

Imelda flushed, her brown eyes widening; they really wanted an explanation? She didn't know really where to start, her mind was too scrambled from that morning.

"I-It wasn't my fault" she mumbled.

"So what?" Levi interrupted, his voice getting louder with each word, "You could have killed those people Imelda, if that had happened they would have killed you on the spot. Don't you see the damage you've now caused through these actions?"

Levi words stung; she hadn't meant to any of those things, she hadn't wanted to do it. He made it sound like she was a three year old who had broken a plant pot.

"Levi please" Erwin sighed, "Imelda I thought we told you to control your anger, acting like this will cause the corps a great lot of trouble…"

But Imelda didn't hear the rest; her mind was spinning with questions. Is that all they cared about? She had nearly died and all they cared about was the idiots who provoked her and that they might get a letter of complaint. Where were the men she'd left half a year ago?

"Are you even listening?" Levi's voice knocked her out of her mind as she glared at them both, forcing back the tears that were threatening another appearance.

"It wasn't my fault" she growled, "I didn't mean to hurt those people, they provoked me okay? They said the Survey corps were mad for taking me in, they said I should be in chains that I was a monster; do you know how it feels to be called that?"

Her glare hardened as she gripped her sofa, "Almost every day I heard at least one person say it, and then people said that you were a weirdo," she looked at Erwin, "and a freak," her eyes flashed to Levi's, "All I was doing was standing up for you, but then it just went to hell from there, I can't control myself alright? I never have and I probably never will."

She finally stopped and stared at the ground, too angry and ashamed to look at her parents anymore. Levi and Erwin shared glances, guilt creeping into their stomachs; they knew they had a reputation in the walls but Imelda had never known.

"Stand up" Levi muttered and Imelda looked at him in confusion before standing up shakily. With one step Levi pulled his little girl into a hug; Imelda's body froze before she wrapped her arms around him to. She could feel her whole body shaking as tears of utter relief fell onto Levi's jacket; then Erwin came into the hug was well.

"You need to clean your jacket Imelda, it stinks" Levi mumbled and Erwin chuckled. It was good to be home.


	16. Operation

A few hours later Imelda found herself lying on one of the infirmary beds; her shoulder and leg soaking in freezing cold water, looking up at Hanji who held a scalpel and tweezers.

"I'm afraid we have to get these bullets out Imelda," Hanji smiled excitedly, "even if the flesh has healed those bullets are still in there, lucky for you we have Levi on the scene to hold you down in anything goes wrong-"

She was cut off by Levi's elbow in her waist as Imelda let out a noise of fear; she didn't want this to go down that rout. After Levi gave her a reassuring stare Hanji set to work; first removed the water from under her shoulder and quickly cut above the shadowy bruise that was the bullet. The cut automatically began to hiss and Imelda gritted her teeth. Hanji found the bullet and dug it out with the tweezers, earning a grunt from Imelda as the round bullet fell into a tray.

"Right" Hanji beamed, "role over" and Imelda did so. Once again Hanji cut above the shadow of the bullet, but there was a problem; when the bullet had hit Imelda it had gone through to the bone, and stayed there. There was no way to get it out as the bone and flesh had healed around it, sticking it in place. Sighing she straightened up wiping the sweat off her brow, "That one won't budge, your bone has encased half of it, I'm sorry."

"No wonder that one hurt like a bitch." Imelda huffed, turning over again and sitting up, as her wounds hissed and melded back together. Levi raised an eyebrow at her language but she ignored it, they swore all the time here why couldn't she?

"Can you stand?" he asked coming over and helping her off the bed; gingerly she placed her bare feet on the ground. As her feet touched the ground her leg gave an uncomfortable twang and she bit her lip, her arm around Levi's shoulder tensed giving him the sign that she couldn't walk. With a quick elegant swoop Levi had Imelda in his arms and was walking out of the infirmary. Imelda squirmed, obviously embarrassed at her Papa carrying her everywhere, but she had to admit, she did feel safe in his arms. With the gentle bumping of Levi's footsteps Imelda could feel her eyes drooping, even though it was early afternoon. As Levi got to Imelda's quarters she was sound asleep, a peaceful smile on her lips. His regular frown lightened as he brushed the hair from her head; if only she wasn't as troubled when awake, she would probably smile more.

Early the next morning Imelda woke before anyone else; it was the first morning she'd woken up without sweaty palms and ragged breathing. Yawning she placed her feet on the stone floor and held her breath as the freezing cold stone surged through her body.

"Fuck that's cold" she mumbled before placing her feet on the floor again, her body temperature fighting the cold stone as she crept towards her door. Opening it she peeked into the corridor; no one, good. Imelda began to head down the corridor and down the stairs towards her workshop; she hadn't been in there yet and was desperate to see it. Opening the door she held back a sneeze; dust covered the room, cobwebs were in every corner and she saw a few cockroaches scuttle along the floor. She grimaced before rolling up her sleeves, "Let's get dirty" she muttered.

A huge crash awoke Levi and Erwin that morning; it came from Imelda's workshop, which was directly below Erwin's room. "The hell is happening" Levi hissed swinging his legs over the bed and throwing his discarded clothes on. Erwin groaned trying to grab him but Levi slapped his big hand away. "You had enough last night Erwin, come on, I think Imelda's cleaning."

The two men arrived in less than three minutes to find the room in a cloud of dust; violent coughing could be heard from the other end from the other end of the room.

"Stupide *cough* shelf *cough* bloody fucking shelf, shit that hurt." Imelda cursed harshly in the dust cloud; how had Levi not cleaned in here?

"Imelda, are you alright?" Erwin sasked through the dust and the coughing was abruptly halted as the latch of the window was clicked open. Slowly the dust began to make its way out of the room and finally Levi and Erwin could see the carnage. The large metal shelf was on the floor, all the spanners, screws, nails, screwdrivers and hammers were scattered across the floor. Broken glass and pot also littered the floor as Imelda went around picking up all the pieces, in bare feet. She was wearing a bandana over her head and over her mouth.

"How did this happen?" Levi sighed after taking Imelda's moving a figure as a sign that she was okay. She looked up and dropped the pieces of shrapnel in the metal bin behind her before saying, "I was trying to move my shelf so I could clean underneath it, but there was too much stuff on it so it kinda fell." She finished lamely looking back down at it; Erwin saw Levi's eyebrow twitch at the mess before him and before he could open his mouth, the tall blonde ordered loudly, "Imelda clean up this place, after lunch I wish to see how your 3DM Gear training is going; come on Levi, there are plenty of other places to clean besides here." And with that he dragged to twitchy little man away from the scene. Imelda's face paled as her Daddy finished his sentence; 3DM Gear? But she was so rubbish at it, how could she show them when she was so appalling at it? Turning back to her cleaning she moaned loudly; this was going to take a while.

Finally after four hours of solid cleaning and fixing, Imelda was finished. She breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down on her work bench, smiling smugly at herself; despite how much she said she hated cleaning, she always felt proud when the job was done. Of course it wasn't clean enough for Levi's standers but he'd given up on her work shop ever since the day she picked up a saw and a block of wood. As long as she had space to move and the table was clear, she was all good. Heading to the mess hall, still in bare feet Imelda smiled at Petra who came over.

"Captain Levi has been in a terrible mood Imelda; probably from that massive crash this morning, do you know what happened?"

Imelda smiled sheepishly before explaining to her friend what had happened. The pretty little red head laughed until they reached the mess hall. Levi was sitting with Hanji who was talking animatedly about their next trip outside the wall.

"We gonna catch another abnormal and I'm gonna call him Bean" she squealed as Imelda came over and sat next to Olu, opposite Levi. Hanji noticed Imelda first and gave a dramatic gasp, "and YOU can be in one of the experiments, want to see if the titan's react to you differently to other humans and-" but her plan was stopped abruptly as Levi shoved the scientist's bread role into her wide mouth.

"No way in hell is Imelda going to be in one of your experiments four eyes" he snarled before looking back at his child, his steal eyes softening slightly as he asked, "did you clean your workshop to my standards?" Imelda shrugged saying, "No one can reach your standards; I did it to my standards- OUCH" she yelped as the heal of Levi's boot dug into her foot.

"Don't talk back to me" he said plainly, "and that wouldn't have hurt as much if you had worn all your uniform."

Imelda glowered at the table, she'd forgotten about Levi and manners; and now her foot was probably blue and pulsing thanks to his heel. Levi clicked his tongue before getting up saying, "Come on Imelda; time to show me your 3DM Gear training."

Well this wasn't going to go well.


	17. Frustration

Imelda walked out towards the training ground a few yards from the headquarters; she was wearing her gear and boots. Levi was already there, waiting and impatiently tapping his foot on the dusty ground. Quickening her step Imelda made it to his side before he could give the order to hurry up. Everything seemed to be back to normal between them but Imelda could tell Levi was becoming harsher with his criticisms, his patience was thinner and his fuse was shorter.

"Well" he clipped, "are you going to show me or are we going to stand here like idiots?" Imelda shook her brown hair out of her eyes in reply before shakily walking to the first tree. She let out a shaky breath before jumping and releasing the hooks and flying up into the air. He ears caught a second shot and hiss as Levi began to follow, lazily swinging to side to side like it was second nature. With her papa's eyes boring into her progress Imelda was finding it even harder to keep concentration. She felt a branch smack her cheek as she wobbled before she fell into the sickening spinning like she had done before back at the training corps.

Levi watched with some surprise as his child began to spin faster and faster; was she just messing around or was she struggling? The latter was confirmed when she landed head first into a bush. Landing beside it he pulled her out and roughly dusted her shoulders before saying, "again" and flew upwards to a tree.

Wiping her face Imelda did just that…and promptly smack into one of the trees as her left hook shot failed to bury itself in opposite tree. Sliding down the tree Imelda groaned as she hit the floor. Levi didn't move from his perch as he watched in slight disappointment. What was making it so hard to master? Sure, he had been self-taught and that hadn't been easy at first but after a few hours he had managed it.  
On the ground, Imelda furiously wiped the tears that were making their way down her face as she took a running jump and flew low to the ground. If Levi could note anything, it was that Imelda never gave up. After several more falls, more silent tears and choice swearwords; Levi called it a day.

"Don't cry Imelda, tears won't get you anywhere outside the walls" he tried to sooth; in reply Imelda punched a tree causing the whole thing to bend with a groan. He wasn't very good at the comfort stuff was he? Before he could rephrase his statement Imelda was storming away.

"Imelda" he warned but she just wiped her face roughly, ignoring him. "Imelda Smith you will obey your captain, stop acting like the brat people think you are and face your problems!"

Levi yelled in his hardest voice, causing Imelda to stop, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. The raven haired man marched over at took Imelda by the shoulders, forcing her to look up at him as he continued,

"Just because you can't do it today, doesn't mean you can't do it tomorrow, getting stressed and angry is in no shitting way to cope with it. Now pull yourself together before I put you over my knee and give you something to cry about."

As the last comment left his lips, Imelda's entire body seized up, her ears went red and she covered her face.

"Why would you mention that!" she practically squeaked, clearly highly embarrassed at his statement. Levi rolled his eyes as he began to walk with Imelda toward the headquarters. He could still easily give this child a spanking.

Imelda looked firmly at her shoes, her mind completely forgetting her 3D Gear fail. It was true that Levi had spanked her more than once; when she had been 7 he'd spanked her for breaking a pile of the kitchens bowls, when she was 8 he had done it again when she'd snuck into his office and, shall we say, explored in, leaving a mess of books, papers and ink all over the floor. There had been other times but those two had been the worst. Erwin had spanked her a few times to but Levi's were a lot more painful despite the massive different in hand size.

Shaking her mind out of the corporal punishment she noticed Levi had let her go to remove his own gear. He glanced at her and she hurriedly began to unbuckle the straps of her gear. They left the store room together and then separated to do their duties; Levi went off to supervise the newest recruits and give them a scare factor, while Imelda headed for her workshop.

Entering she shut the doors, kicked off her boots and flopped onto her chair, looking at all her old blueprints; okay, they weren't technically old, they were just forgotten. There were plans for new cannon designs, rifles, even her old hand bombs; which still needed plenty of work. Trying to think about what to do Imelda failed to hear the thundering feet of a certain, bespectacled scientist. It was only when she crashed through the door, startling the poor 12 year old.

"Imelda, there you are, I have a task for you" she panted slamming a gun like mechanism onto the table. Blinking, Imelda tilled her head before taking the pistol like object and recognised it to be the flares they used in outside missions.

"This mechanism has been nothing but faulty since we bought them, can you improve it?" Hanji beamed as Moblit finally caught up to her, panting violently. Imelda had to feel sorry for the man, Hanji was a handful at the best of times and never seemed to understand the word danger; no wonder the man's past time was drinking.

Looking back down at the flare Imelda clicked her tongue, "Yeah I can try, it'll give me something to do after all." Hanji whooped, squeezing her tightly before running back out, with Moblit staggering after her. What an adorable couple, Imelda smiled before fiddling with the flair.  
It was a gun like object with a large barrel; usually the user would put a pellet of whatever signal colour they required and then fire it. But the pellets had to be put in precisely or they wouldn't work, and with the stress of titans, riding your horse or just pure exhaustion, they were considered hard to use. Tying her brown hair behind her head she grabbed a pencil and started scribbling different blue prints, mathematics and possible replacements. She loved loosing herself in the world of engineering and mechanics, it made her forget all the other stuff that would worry her constantly.

Two hours later the bell was sounded for supper and all the troops who had been training looked up gratefully from their exercise.

"Don't get your hopes up, keep going, can't you count to 50? As far as I can see you've all only done 10." Levi growled as the newbies went back glumly to their press-ups. He was in a foul mood now after a stressful afternoon and was in no mood for slackers.  
Finally the new troop finished and they all staggered to dinner. Levi entered and sat next to Erwin and Hanji.

"They that bad?" Hanji grinned through her glass and Levi glared at her, "Shut it shitty glasses, I've had a shit afternoon and I don't want you dragging it down any further."

Erwin raised an eyebrow at Levi before taking another bite of his dinner and asking, "How did Imelda's 3DM Gear training go?"

Levi didn't answer straight away, he obviously wouldn't lie to Erwin, that would be ridicules but he knew Erwin would be disappointed with his answer.

"Not as you hoped, she has very little balance in the air and her anger levels aren't helping her either." Erwin sighed, nodding, he'd hoped to take Imelda on a training mission but with the situation as it was now, it wasn't going to happen. Without a reply he nodded, and they spoke no more on the subject.

Levi breathed in deeply before his note caught the scent of the flair pellets. Turning he saw people look at the door just as Imelda entered. She looked terrible, her face was covered in different colours of yellow, black, green and red, she had several burns and her hair was smocking. As gracefully as one could in that state, Imelda came towards the table where Levi, Hanji and Erwin sat, and placed a flare on the table.

"I think" Imelda coughed out a couple of smoke rings, "that should do the trick Hanji; oh hello Commander, Captain." She acknowledge before turning and heading for the door.

"Smith" Erwin sighed, Imelda turned, "go to the medical room and treat those burns; and next time when your testing flares, don't look down the barrel, even if you can survive the blast."


	18. Illness

Imelda tossed and turn in her bed; damn her insomnia and brain. She could stop thinking about the past few days, so much had happened that hadn't meant to. She hadn't meant to hurt those people, she hadn't meant to get shot and she hadn't meant to get angry with herself. Of course it wouldn't work with Levi there; if anything it had made it harder to use the gear. Sitting up she looked up at the clear night sky, the moon was an elegant crescent in the sea of darkness; its beams gently lighting up the ground. Thanks to her titan blood, Imelda was sluggish during the night and struggled with keeping awake when the sun went down; but tonight she wide awake thanks to her whizzing brain.

"…stuff this" she grumbled swinging the covers off her body and standing up. She instantly regretted it as the cold room hit her skin and she shivered violently. Taking a breath she crept towards the door, neglecting her boots as she peeped through the door to the corridor. She decided to take the short root down to the gear room and headed down the backstairs; this was a risky move thanks to Erwin's office and quarters being right by it. Holding her breath Imelda darted past the closed door and down the stairs, not daring to look back until she got to the ground floor. "Phew" she muttered scuttling over to the gear room. Trying the handle the door refused to move, but the 12 year old had expected this; smirking she flicked the keyhole and she heard the springs inside it shatter. Making a mental note to fix it later, Imelda grabbed her gear and headed outside.

* * *

Levi sat at his desk, the candles long since burned out, and his hand still wrapped around a quill. Despite the hour, the dark haired man's eye lids failed to droop; old habits from the underground die hard, he supposed.  
Looking back on the day he couldn't help but feel concerned for Imelda's wellbeing; of course she was still a child but she didn't seem to care how much danger she put herself in. Who in their right minds would look down the barrel of a flare gun whilst firing it? Imelda, that's who, his brain sarcastically replied.

"This brat is going to kill me" he murmured as a knock came from the door; who the hell would be up at this time? Taking his switchblade he went to the door, and opened it a crack. Bright blue, though rather sleepy, eyes looked back at him.

"Erwin" he sighed, "who else would be up at this hour." Levi fully opened the door and let the tall blonde in.

"I thought you'd be up" Erwin smiled as he wandered around the room, "that's why I'm here, to tell you to go to bed." Levi flushed at the bluntness of the order and he frowned, folding his arms,

"So you're acting like my mother now? I've always stayed up this late." His frown and slightly pouted lips made Erwin chuckle, before came up to his Levi and embraced him in a hug. Levi squirmed awkwardly trying to push away but he knew those arms had an iron grip.

"I don't want my captain to be sleep deprived you know; after all, how can you train if you're only half awake?"

Levi grumbled incoherently into Erwin's shirt and purposefully stepping on his foot. As Erwin released him, wincing, he heard birds squawk and a flock of them flew out of the trees in the nearby wood. Levi had heard it to as his eyes narrowed. Who would be out there at this time of night?

* * *

Imelda swore for the fifth time under her breath as she sat up from the ground. "Stupide fucking gear, why can't I get it fucking right huh? Argh…ACHOO" The birds, that had been sleeping in the trees around her squawked loudly, flapping upwards. Far too angry to care who heard Imelda got to her feet, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"Why can't I get it right?" Well maybe because you're doing it in the middle of the night? Her mind helped and she mentally slapped herself, why the hell was she out here? It was practically pitch black. Still beating her mind up, Imelda headed for the training ground again; but as her luck would have it, she tripped, landing in a stream. The cold water hit her chest and head making her gasp as her palm was sliced by a gagged rock.

"…Shit" she hissed as the blood mixed with the ice water. Suddenly everything flashed dark orange and all her surroundings became visible. Holding in a scream she stood shakily, examining her new, strange surroundings.

"Titans can see in the dark?" she whispered hoarsely.

* * *

"…Imelda…" Levi's voice mumbled around her head as she groaned rolling away from the noise, "Imelda…get your lazy arse up…late for training… IMELDA" The door crashed open with a peeved Levi standing at the door, "I sent Petra but you didn't answer her, what the hell is wrong with yo-" He stopped mid rant as he saw the 12 year old practically steaming in her bed. Her face was bright red and her whole body was shaking.

"I-Is it *cough* that time already? Sorry Papa…I'll get up now" Imelda made a move to get out of bed but was roughly pushed back with the covers tucked around her. "Stay" Levi ordered before leaving the room.  
He headed down the corridor to Hanji who was busy scaring Moblit half to death with her experiments.

"Hanji, Imelda is sick" Levi stated and Hanji jumped to her feet screaming with joy and bouncing up and down, "So titans can get ill ooooo MOBLIT THIS IS AMAZING WOOOO- ouch ouch ouch, okay Levi I'm going."  
Entering Imelda's room Hanji dived for her and began taking her temperature, asking questions and supressing squeals of delight. But she stopped once she read the thermometer, her body temperature was far higher than any human could survive at, even touching her skin was enough to cause a burn.

"hmm" Hanji murmured, getting up from the bed, "it seems you have pneumonia little one, this isn't good." Whilst tapping her chin Hanji heard gruff laughter from under the covers. Imelda was chuckling dizzily and looking up at Hanji with clouded eyes.

"Ehehe, did you know haha, Titans can see in the dark, and when I cut myself underwater, I don't go bat-shit crazy? Neither did I, until last night hahaha."

Hanji looked at the girl with concern and slight awe; how had she found that out? She hadn't gone outside had she? Leaving Imelda by the bed she examined her boots, no proof of being outdoors. But to be honest, when had this girl willing worn shoes when she was off duty? Hanji headed over to the bed again and pulled back the covers from Imelda's feet. They were filthy, grazed and bruised; Erwin and Levi wouldn't be pleased with this. It wasn't like she couldn't tell them, those two always found out everything.

"Imelda…Geez what are we going to do with you?" Hanji smiled tiredly shaking her head with exasperation. Imelda stopped laughing and shrugged, mumbling,

"I don't know, stick a few needles in me, and see how many dogs I can kill in three minutes? Take your pick, like I got a choice."

Hanji froze for about two seconds before shaking it off and laughing again, "Sorry Imelda, thanks to your dads I can only stick needles in titans, patents and enemies; now get some rest okay?" And with that she left the room.


	19. Nightmare

As Hanji had predicted, Levi and Erwin were furious that Imelda had snuck out; both had heard noises from the wood but neither had checked it out. They knew neither could see Imelda until training was over; they were getting ready for another mission outside the walls. Hanji was banging on about getting another titan or two for experimenting; though this wasn't the reason, it had been five years since the walls destruction and they had been fighting them back for all five of those years. Eld, who had broken his shoulder in a training accident, was put in charge of making sure Imelda didn't get out of bed and, quote from Levi, 'Do anything stupid'. For the most part Imelda was good, she sat in bed feeling sorry for herself and was rather delirious with everything going around her.

"So" Eld sighed looking up from his book on the sofa, "what were you doing last night? You barely ever get ill." Imelda coughed before answering hoarsely, "I wanted to practice my 3DM Gear training…ACHOO, turned out brilliantly as you can see….hey quit sniggering."

Eld let out a snort before covering his mouth fully with his right hand and muffled an apology. Glaring Imelda lay down and pulled the covers up over her head, mumbling about wanting to sleep. Eld let out another chuckle before yawning loudly,

"I think I'll join you in that, little one." and both closed their eyes, ready for sleep.

* * *

Erwin yawned loudly looking up from his formation plans and looked at the clock, 6:07pm. He'd been working for over 3 hours, he would still work for longer but Imelda had to explain herself for why she was out the night before. Getting up he headed for the door. Most of the corps was still outside training so it was quite as he headed for Imelda's room. Entering the room, he saw Eld reading his book, and Imelda silently sleeping in her bed.

"How is she?" Erwin asked and Eld jumped, dropping his book, "Commander" Eld try to stand but Erwin shook his head saying,

"Don't make your injuries worse Eld, has Imelda been alright?"

Eld nodded, relaxing a little, "In most cases yes, she drank plenty of tea, was quite talkative, but she didn't want to eat anything; she's been sleeping for two hours." Erwin nodded and headed back to the door, no need to wake her up, he had time. Looking at Eld he smiled kindly,

"You're dismissed Eld, thank you for watching her, I think we can leave her be."

The fellow blonde stood up, gave an awkward salute and left the room; Erwin looked back at Imelda who was still sleeping peacefully and kissed her forehead. The heat remained on his lips as he pulled back. Erwin felt so much pity the girl, granted he and all the other corps members had been through hell more than once; but she'd entered hell, and only now was she coming out again. Shaking his head he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Why was it so dark, why could her body move, what was over her mouth? Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of her eyes; three people sat at a table, a girl, a woman, and a man. Realisation smashed into her like a cannon ball; no, no not this, anything but this. She tried to move but it was impossible, something was holding her back, but she didn't know what.

"Mama" the girl asked "are we going to pick flowers after lunch?"

"Yes" the woman smiled, and her mouth spoke a name, but Imelda couldn't hear it. The man smiled, ruffling the girl's hair. Then the image changed again and the girl was in a field of beautiful flowers, running and jumping, several blue ones clasped in her small fist. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, but she didn't seem to care. Then the small girl tripped, landing on her hand and knees.

Imelda's stomach jumped, she knew what was coming next, and she began to shake with fear, her hands coming to her ears; as a man in a long white coat appeared, almost out of nowhere.

"Are you lost, little one?" oh his voice was a smooth and calm as ever. Looking up the girls eyes shined with recognition and she smiled jumping up. "No, my family are just…" but looking around, the girl saw her family wasn't there. Imelda tried to yell, scream, plead for the girl not to follow the man in the white coat, but nothing came from her throat. The man took her hand and began to lead her away.

Mercilessly the memory ended there, but it wasn't the end of the dream. Where there had once been silence, the noise of screams and shouts crashed into her ear drums. People were surrounding her, pointing, spitting, swearing and cursing at her; calling her monster, telling her to die, throwing all their hatred and anger at her.

"Stop it" she whispered, covering her ears, shaking her head rapidly, "I'm not what you think I am, I'm not."

Suddenly, a sharp kick hit her side, making her gasp in pain, and then fists came raining down on her body, then swords and then fire. The pain was horrendous as she screamed at the top of her lungs. It stopped as quickly as it came and she opened her eyes. There was nothing, just darkness; but then she saw it. Levi and Erwin were facing her, looking down at her like she was filth. Why, why were they looking at her like that? What had she done to make that happen? Slowly, they began to turn away, leaving her alone in the dark.

"No…no, no NO PLEASE, PAPA DADDY, DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE, PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME!"

She sobbed desperately crawling forwards until a large, hairy hand wrapped its self around her middle, lifting her high into the black obis. Turning she saw a titan, though it was nothing like any titan she'd seen, it was almost, almost like a monkey she'd seen in a forbidden book. Without saying a thing, it opened its jaws and kicking and screaming; Imelda fell into is mouth.

* * *

With a yelp Imelda's eyes flew open, her whole body trembling and sweating with fear. Her breathing was ragged, tears were still cascading down her face and her hair stuck to her face and she could feel dampness beneath the sheets; she'd wet the bed again. But her head was spinning far too fast to even consider being embarrassed. Shakily she got up, her legs only just holding her body as she crept to her wash basin; she had to lower her body temperature or the slightest pin prick could send her into a killing frenzy. Imelda poured the water over her head and used the flannel to clean her sweat soaked skin. She then changed her clothes but didn't go back to bed; she couldn't, not just because she soiled them but also because she felt so twitchy that if she fell asleep…the nightmare would come back.

* * *

Levi shivered, his fingers digging into Erwin's night shirt, his toes curling. Erwin groaned, his own body twitching and shivering with every shallow breath.

"Erwin" Levi whispered shakily, pulling the larger man closer, if that was even possible, "it's fucking freezing."

Erwin simply nodded, as he pulled the blankets closer around the two of them, the winter air forbidding either to sleep. Levi was just about to call it a night and not bother with sleep; like it would make any difference to him anyway, when the door creaked open. Both men heard the noise and both tensed as footsteps came closer and closer to the bed.

"Daddy, papa? I-I had a bad dream" Imelda sniffed shakily, rubbing the tears out of her eyes, "I-I'm sorry I went out last night *sniff*, I j-just w-wanted you to be proud of me." She took in a ragged breath before continuing, "b-but, can I sleep with you tonight?"

Erwin and Levi glance at each other; they did love their daughter, but what she'd done was foolish. But her nightmares were far more realistic than other children's nightmares. So Levi let go of Erwin and scooted back a little so there was a gap in between them. In a split second Imelda was under the covers and clinging to her parents.

Must have been a horrible nightmare, Levi thought as he wrapped his arms around her, Erwin doing the same. But at least she was warm, and soon all three were asleep, happily content in each others arms.


	20. Success

The next morning Imelda was the first to open her eyes, her body still sandwiched between her parents. Both had their eyes shut but knew better to think they were asleep. She fidgeted between them trying to wriggle out, not wanting to talk about the nightmare, but her Papa's arms held fast as grey eyes made contact with her own.

"Care to explain last night and the night before?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow. Imelda shook her head, looking down in shame.  
"Imelda" Levi's voice was dangerously level and Imelda knew if she didn't say something she'd be over his knee faster than she could run.

"Just let her be Levi," Erwin mumbled, "give her time, she'll tell us eventually, no need to threaten people so early in the morning."  
A grunt from Levi gave Imelda the point that she was off the hook this time; but she felt upset that Levi rolled over, having his back face her like that.

"I dreamt about when I was little" she mumbled, not bothering to look up, "I was runnin around in a field, until a-a" she could feel the tears coming back already, "a man in a white coat appeared…and took me away." She bit down on her fingernails, trying to calm her breathing but it didn't help much.

"A-and then-n-n y-you b-b-b-oth where th-ere and t-t-urned a-way leaving m-m-e in the darkness and then-"

Erwin wrapped his arms around her gently shushing her as she covered her face, tears falling onto the mattress. Levi turned back, concern in his eyes as he pushed Imelda's bed hair from her face kissing her forehead.

"It was a dream Imelda, no more than that" he said calmly. Still sniffing rather violently Imelda nodded as Levi sat up. "I'm going into town, we need more supplies, I'll be taking my squad with me."

Erwin and Imelda stayed in bed for an hour or so after Levi left until Erwin managed to coax Imelda out of bed and get her to eat something. For the morning Erwin did paperwork whilst Imelda just sat on the leather sofa, staring at her feet. It would be a lie to say Erwin wasn't concerned about his daughter; she was distant, her pupils were still wide and her body shook ever so slightly.  
At lunch time Erwin said nothing as he took Imelda by the hand and pulled her to the door; she didn't fight back.

"Imelda, are you hungry?" he asked as they reached the mess hall. She shook her head, "then go get your gear on, you need to take your mind off your nightmare." He ordered, walking towards the arms room.  
Imelda felt her stomach jerk up to her throat; gear!? She was rubbish at it though, how the hell was he going to expect her to do it? She was about to run away to her room when Erwin turned back, his eyes flashing dangerously, and Imelda quickly went against her decision and ran to his side. This was going to be awful, she just knew it.

"Right Imelda, tell me how you keep balance when in 3DM Gear" Erwin said as they walked to the woods.  
"By centring your balance to your stomach and hips." Imelda replied almost automatically. Erwin nodded in approval, "exactly; now when you're in the air you centre of balance is still in the same area; but what must you take into consideration?"

Imelda thought about this; she'd never really thought about that, whenever she'd been in the air she'd always been pushed backwards by the air.

"You need to keep streamlined?" she said, "Almost," Erwin smiled as they stopped by the trees, "you need to keep forward, leaning back will send you into the spin as it did last time. Anyway, start by just swinging at a steady pace from tree to tree down here."

Imelda nodded, not wanting to remember last time as she stationed herself, and let her hooks fly. As she was lifted into the air she focused centring her balance and with only a few wobbles, managed to get to the other side.

"Excellent Imelda, you did well; though your landing may need to be improved on. Do the same again but faster." Erwin called from the other side and obediently Imelda did; though it didn't go quite as well. One of the hooks didn't manage to imbed itself in the tree and Imelda crashed into the hedge. She pulled herself out, tears threatening another appearance, but Erwin simply nodded, "There is always the possibility that the hooks won't go in; it's isn't your fault. But" he said, now looking incredibly serious, "If that ever happens outside the wall, retract it and send t again as fast as you can; the slightest mistake could be the end of you."

Imelda nodded rubbing her face and looked back down the line of trees again before jumping into the air. With a spurt of gas she was in the air, gliding through the trees, keeping her body forward. She was doing it, slowly but she was still doing it. A smile began to crawl onto her limps as she sped up, embracing the adrenalin that was rushing through her as she sent one wire out and span around the tree to come back round again.  
"Very good Imelda, you're doing it!" Erwin called and her heart filled with self-pride as she skidded to a halt. She grinned happily and did a small happy dance on the grass. Erwin smiled at his daughter; that's all she needed, praise and comfort, but he knew her power would be of great strategic use, and despite what Levi said, he would use it to their advantage.

That evening Levi entered the mess hall to see Imelda and Hanji having an animated conversation about titans and the outside world, whilst Erwin sat on a separate table looking at documents. Deciding not to disturb them Levi headed over the the blonde's side.

"I take it today was a success?" Levi asked as he sipped his tea, Erwin nodded, his large eyebrows low with concentration. "Indeed; she'll be ready soon."


	21. Regret (P1)

She was scared, there was no denying it. Today was the day; Imelda was going outside the walls. She sat on her horse, her hands tight on the reigns as the order was given to open the gates of Trost. She was placed behind Levi next to Hanji, who gave her an encouraging smile, but she couldn't bring herself to smile back. Suddenly Erwin yelled for the legion to charge and Imelda kick her horse into gear and with the rest of the scouts, went through the gate.

The wind hit her face as she looked up, the sky clear and bright, and the sun shined down on them. If she didn't know her situation she would have stopped to admire the views. But instead she looked forwards, her eyes darting side to side, looking out for titans. But there didn't seem to be any, she could see for miles and there weren't any; maybe they were hiding? No they weren't smart enough for that. They travelled for another ten miles until the first titan was spotted. It was a 10 meter class, its mouth hanging open in a irksome smile. Erwin began to swerve right, the less they made contact with titans the fewer casualties, that was the plan. But unfortunately this titan had seen them and soon began to lumber after them.

"Eld, Petra!" Levi called form his group, "Take it down." And the two soldiers leapt from their horses and flew at the monster. Imelda stared in amazement as they span around its form, firing their hooks into its body to give themselves some height before Eld sliced open its neck. They had done it so easily, and with no trees to help them stay in the air.  
Suddenly a hand grabbed her head, forcing her look forwards; Levi was by her side as he ordered, "Stop staring around Imelda, keep vigilant at all times."

Nodding in reply Imelda kept looking forward. They passed an old village, its houses either destroyed or crumbling, their walls being covered by moss and vines. Livestock could still be seen munching on the grass lands. It seemed titans really didn't care for animals, Imelda thought. But her train of thought was blow to bits as a titan on all fours crashed through the buildings, it scattered the group taking out five of the team, crushing them under its bulk. She heard some of the troops scream but before she could react she kicked her hoarse into a spirt as she sped away from the titan. A gut wrenching scream caused her to look back as she saw the titan bite a woman in half. Bile filled her mouth as she kicked the horse harder, moving further away from the group. The ground around her began to shake and she looked to her left to see five titans making their way toward her. Forgetting about the plan she headed for a town that was in view.

* * *

Levi sent his blades deep into abnormal's neck, it's naked body collapsing, its mouth still full of the new recruits lower body. Quickly he hopped back on his hors; but he saw a hoard of titans heading for a town in the distance.  
"Sir" Nanaba called, removing the telescope from her eye, their chasing after a member of our group." Levi looked around quickly and his stomach flipped, Imelda wasn't there.

Imelda made it to the town with the titans slowly following behind, looks like these ones didn't know how to run. The houses around her were three and two stories, most in fairly good condition, looks like the news had gotten faster to those living here. She had little time to rest however as a five meter titan turned the corner at the end of the street.

"Oh shit" she hissed as she leapt from her horse and propelled herself onto the roof of the houses. Looking around she saw many more titans than first expected; three 15 meter class to the north of her positon, the five 10 meter class that were just making it to the area and the one below her. She was utterly out numbered. Thankfully her horse was ignored, but the large, almost childlike eyes of the titan had spotted her and was now clawing at the side of the building, letting out a low groan giving Imelda the chills. She began to head for the town centre moving as quietly as she could, trying to avoid being noticed by one of the three 15 meter class that had its back to her. Unfortunately her foot dislodged the tiling that fell to the floor three stories bellow. Slowly the titan turned around, its head only two meters from Imelda. She had to hold a scream as its mouth opened, showing a mouth full of jagged uneven teeth, its breath stagnant and eye watering.

Wordlessly it moved forwards and Imelda moved just in time as it smacked its face, centimetres from where she was standing. She let out a scream as the building fell with and she found herself falling to the street below. Imelda cried out in pain as her left arm bent backwards and tried to get up from the rubble. She could feel a warm substance falling down her head as she saw the three titans turn to look at her with greedy eyes. She had to do it, and do it now. Grabbing her broken blade she sliced her arm.

* * *

The squad had made it to the town, their horses left outside it as the squad went to roof tops, Levi and Erwin heading the operation.

"Where the fuck is that brat" Levi hissed, anger and worry in his tone. Erwin ordered his troops to split up, she was skilled enough to take down a few titans, but he couldn't afford to lose her, not now, not ever. A scream was heard from the other side of the town and Levi leapt from the roof and sped towards the noise. "Please be alive, please be alive" he muttered under his breath, but a strangulated scream nearly made his heart stop. He saw three titans up ahead, all looking down at the ground, she must be there. He fired his hook into the last one's neck and sliced the nape clean off, causing it to fall backwards; its grin still on is dead face. Landing on the rood next to it he looked down and saw Imelda.

She had blood across her face and her arm was slashed, her pupils were non-existent and she growled low.

With jagged speed she ran for the closest titan and stabbed its ankle, using her broken blades to climb up its leg. It bent down to get rid of her but she was too fast, her blades sunk into its nape before it could right its mistake. Leaping off the corps she flew to the second switching her blades and landing on its face, ramming one the blades into its eye. A scream came from it and she used the other blade to slice open its mouth, the lower half of the jaw hanging like a hangman's noose. Its neck was quickly cut as well and Imelda stood on the other roof, opposite to Levi, a dark look on her face that made Levi tighten the grip on his blades, she could easily attacking him now; but he would be lying if he wasn't relieved she was alive.

* * *

Adrenalin pumped through her vanes as she stared into Levi's eyes, her mind was spinning around, different voices yelling at her to kill him but others begging her not to, she didn't know what to do, she'd killed her first titan's but the cut on her arm was healing up much faster than before. She moved to go towards Levi before suddenly stopping, her cut had fully healed and her mind had come down from its animalistic high. Her knee's buckled underneath her and she stayed on the roof, her eyes set open, pupils wide.

Seeing Imelda come down from her high Levi took no time and getting to her, throwing her under his arm and shooting back to where Erwin was standing. Thankfully none of the troops had been killed in this detour and now know that Imelda was safe, Levi was furious and dropped Imelda before grabbing her roughly be the shoulders.

"The fuck did you do that for!" he barked, anger clear in his eyes, "You could have got yourself killed, as well as us for trying to find you!"  
He knew his message had got through as tears began to well up in Imelda's eyes; what she had done was stupid and life threatening.

"I'm sorry" she cried, her palms buried into her eyes, "I'm sorry, I panicked I panicked, that titan just came out of nowhere and I didn't know what to do." And she sobbed on the floor, refusing to remove her hands from her eyes.  
Levi looked at Erwin and he could tell that the blonde was regretting his decision in bringing the child with them.

* * *

**Author: Helllo :) sorry about the delays, last year in school, not much time hahaha. I hope my descriptive language and spelling is better :D**


	22. Regret (P2)

The legion left the abandoned town shortly after; none were pleased by the detour, but thankfully no lives had been lost in looking for Imelda. She rode by Levi's side, her eyes still fresh from crying, her hands trembling and her face still pulled down in self-pity. She was in no state to fight, but sadly outside Wall Rose there wasn't an option. The group had stopped for their horses to rest up in an old settlement, three soldiers on the roofs keeping look out whilst the rest refilled their tanks and tended their horses. Imelda stayed by her horse as it drank from the pond, running her hads through its charcoal blue mane.

"Hey" he barked at her "stop feeling sorry for yourself, you're a walking meal in this state so knock it off." He felt his stomach twist at his words but there was no mercy here, she needed to see that. As he headed to Erwin to discuss where they were going next Mike came up to Imelda who looked like she was going to cry again.

"You know squirt" he said gently, "what Levi says is right, emotions have to wait for when we're back in the safety of the walls." A couple of sniffs and furious wiping of her nose Imelda nodded, "I know but-but its hard okay? I haven't been here for as long as you or the others."

Mike nodded and ruffled her hair, "I know squirt, but we'll protect you okay?"

Before she could reply though foot falls shook the ground as a look out called, "Around ten titans are heading this way sir!" Imelda felt her stomach jerk as she and Mike swung onto their horses follow Erwin who was leading the group in a vast land of humongous trees. They were taller than any titan she'd seen,

"Keep in the centre of the track, no stragglers!" Levi called back to the squad as they made their fast journey deeper into the trees. But before they got any further, three titans walked out of the trees in front of them, and their eyes snapped onto them.

"IN TO THE TREES" Erwin boomed and all flew up into the vast canopy above; the horses went on, ignored by the naked monsters who were all dully reaching up into the trees. This was, until one of the new subordinates, Conner, completely by accident disturbed a wasp nest. In his panic he fell backwards knocking three people off the tree branch below, one of which was Imelda. Falling from the tree she and the two others manged to right their gear, but the titans had them now and grabbed their wires, pulling them to the ground. Shouts and cries rang through the trees as other soldiers raced to help but none had noticed the six other titans come from the other side.

* * *

Imelda forced herself to sit up as the commotion went on above until a titan came into her blurry vision. She desperately tried to back away but to no hope; she was cornered again. Too terrified to scream she grabbed her sword and slashed her arm, but nothing happened. She tried again but still nothing, why wasn't she going crazy yet? Staggering to her feet she tried to run but her legs were useless.

"Oh no you don't" Levi snarled leaping from one titan to the other slashing it's nape clean off. "Get off the ground." He called as the titan smacked into the earth, leaves, steam and dust spraying Imelda's face. Fumbling with her swords she flew up blindly into the cloud of dust. Suddenly through the dust she saw a huge mass lunging toward her. The titan's jaws opened wide ready to snap down on its prey. What happened next came as something of blur to the 14 year old; there was a scream, sounds of jaws snapping, flashes of green, then deep, bright red, then she was being smacked against the ground again. Lights popped frantically in her sight as she looked forwards and saw…saw the frozen, terrified face of the subordinate, his lower half trapped in the titan's jaws. Imelda screamed.

Her voice rang through the trees like a horrible siren getting the attention of all the survivors as they stood on the now steaming titans. She could feel warm blood all over her face and body, it was in her mouth, in her hair, her eyes and she couldn't stop looking, couldn't stop looking into the glassy eyes of the boy that had shoved her out of the way. She tried to move but her legs were trapped by the titan's chin. The titan behind the boy was dead, Levi had killed it seconds after the titan and taken a bite. He appeared at her side and pulled her out, letting the corps fall stiffly to the earth; but that didn't help Imelda's state. She couldn't take it, she was going crazy with fear and horror, disgust and utter hopelessness. She fought against Levi's arms, even when he flew her up to the trees out of harm's way. She saw Levi's face, full of concern and stress his lips moving, but she couldn't hear any of it. It was after a few moments when she saw her papa's face turn angry, but regretful as he raised the handle of his sword, making her world go black.

* * *

It was several hours before Imelda fully regained consciousness. She was lying on her back, her head supported by something soft; the sky above was moving at a brisk, smooth pace. Her torso was covered with a cape, leaving her sore legs exposed to the afternoon sun. Where was she? Why did she hurt all over, why did her face feel stiff?

"Imelda…are you awake?" Turning her gaze to the side she saw Petra kneeling beside her; her kind eyes laced with tension and concern. Imelda tried to speak but all that came out was a deep, gravelly gurgle and a cough. So she nodded slightly, going back to looking at the sky, her mind slowly remembering what had happened.  
They'd been in the trees, and she'd fallen and…well that's when it really had gone to shit hadn't it? She must have visibly tensed at the memories because Petra's small hand cupped her cheeking, her thumb rubbing off some of the dried blood.

"It's alright Imelda, you're safe, we all are, the wall is in sight; we'll be home soon."

But that boy won't be, she thought, he's dead as were probably so many others. Her eyes pricked with tears, she hadn't known them by name, but she'd seen their faces around the base, felt familiarity with them, now they would be gone, their beds empty, their family's heart broken. A vast shadow loomed over her as the wall rolled above them. The rumble of the gates came to her ears and the dark stone interior of the wall flashed passed her eyes. Relief visibly appeared in Petra's body as she smiled down sadly at her,

"See?" she said, "What did I tell you, we're safe."

Imelda only nodded, she eye lids drooping gently shut; they were safe.

* * *

The scout made their slow, painful journey to the base; stopping at the homes of those who'd lost their lives, Erwin, Hanji or Levi being the one at the door to give the news. They had finished their last stop before Levi went up to the cart and jumped in, leaving his horse to be pulled along behind it.

"How is she?" he asked Petra who gave Levi a rather cold look, "I think she's okay, she woke up just before we entered the wall and then went back to sleep."  
Levi could tell she wanted to say something else, he knew what she wanted to say, "Say it Petra" he sighed, "say what you're thinking."

The petit soldier looked surprised at first, but took the opportunity none the less.

"Imelda should not have come on this expedition," she started, "she is only just 14, she's nothing more than a child and yet you and Erwin agreed that Imelda was ready for this?"  
"No one is ready for what's out there Petra," Levi said sternly, "I've seen many a skilled fight die at the hands of a titan, we cannot recreate an environment like the one outside the wall; no amount of training can prepare you for it-"

"But she is on 14!" Petra interrupted, "And she hasn't had a childhood like we did, she was nothing short of an experiment for the youngest years of her life. You know she isn't as mentally stable as the rest of us and what happened on the mission would have only made it worse." She paused, calming her anger, her cheeks flushed, "I'm sorry Captain but I feel very strongly about this."

Levi completely understood; Imelda was different, no doubt about it, heck it was obvious she as different from other children her age. Looking down at his girl Levi just simply replied, "You have a right to your opinion Petra, don't apologise for that."


End file.
